"Whaddya say we kill some evil sons of bitches and we raise a little hell?"

The Road So Far.

A bell tolls ominously as Dean offers us a voice-over to begin the new season. "Look, Dad's gone now. And we have to carry out his legacy. And that means hunting down as many evil sons of bitches as we possibly can."

Love the sentiment, but man – I hate voice-over intros, on any show. No matter who is reading them, they always sound so fake. I really hope this one doesn't stay with us for the rest of the season. That tolling bell is all kinds of fitting, though.

Cue musical montage to remind us of the highlights of – or no, actually most of – season two, focusing specifically on the two-part finale: Sam's death, Dean's deal with the Crossroads Demon to bring him back, leaving Dean himself with just one year to live, the opening of the Devil's Gate and release of hundreds of new demons into the world, the Yellow-Eyed Demon taunting Dean with the possibility that what he brought back might not be 100% Sam, and Dean finally, wonderfully, killing the Yellow-Eyed Demon once and for all with Samuel Colt's magic gun. "Hope to hell you boys are ready," Bobby gruffly narrates. "'Cause the war is just begun."

Now.

Oak Park, Illinois. We open on a quiet, sleepy suburb, late evening, with some random bearded dude putting out the trash. Ominous background music sounds as he glances covetously at his neighbour's shiny, swish car. He then regretfully contemplates his own rather grubby looking old banger, clearly wondering why he doesn't own a flash sporty number himself already. He then dumps the trash in the can as the ominous background music reaches a crescendo, but nothing happens. Anticlimax? Nope – mislead. As he turns to trundle back into the house, the trash cans start to rattle, which gives him a moment's pause, that kind of thing not happening every day. Then the street and house lights all around start flickering on and off – which, as everyone except Beard now knows, is a really, really bad sign – and he looks up to see an enormous black cloud sweeping through the air toward him. It looks awesome, and is clearly the selfsame cloud of demonic smoke that was released from the Hell's Gate a couple of states over at the end of All Hell Breaks Loose last season. Beard starts to wig as smaller black tendrils of smoke start shooting out of the main cloud, coming right at him. He turns to run…and trips over his own trash cans. Fatal mistake. A thick black stream of smoke knocks him down, and pours into his mouth, just one of the many demons newly released into the world. Beard then opens his now black, demon-possessed eyes. He stands up, and smiles at the sight of his fellows whizzing through the air.

Titles. Awesome new titles, with the devil's trap, and the demon smoke, and still with the spectral flickering and static. Fantastic!

One week later.

Night. Sam sits in the Impala outside a random motel, reading by torchlight. It's a really nifty touch that he's reading Dr Faustus, all kinds of symbolic. He glances up at the sound of music to see Dean standing at the window of their motel room, hilariously wearing a white vest rather than his usual multitude of layers, giving him a double thumbs up and a huge, happy grin. Sharing his good mood, or perhaps subtly, subconsciously even, checking that Sam is still there. One week since last season's finale means one week since Sam disappeared into thin air and got himself killed, which is the kind of thing that tends to stick in the memory. Sam nods an indulgent acknowledgement of Dean's enthusiasm, then chuckles to himself in amusement as his brother pulls the curtains closed, since said curtains are so thin as to be completely useless, which means that as Dean sets about stripping the girl he's got in there with him Sam can see everything in silhouette.



Rather than sit there watching, though, Sam returns to his reading, only to be immediately interrupted by his phone ringing. It's Bobby, driving along a typical Supernatural deserted road someplace.

Bobby: "Whatcha doing?"
Sam: "Same old same old."
Bobby: "You buried in that book again? Sam, you want to break Dean free of that demon deal, you ain't gonna find the answer in no book."

So, we're up to speed on just what Sam's been investing all his effort in for the past week since the season two finale: researching ways to save his brother, at the same time as indulging him. Just why he feels inclined pander to Dean's hedonistic impulses right now is, I hope, apparent to anyone who watched the show last season.

"Then where, Bobby?" Sam's good humour evaporates in the face of this pessimism stomping all over his efforts.
"Kid, I wish I knew," Bobby admits with a sigh. "So where's your brother?"

Sam glances up to where Dean can be seen dancing around in front of the window, his squeeze-of-the-night giggling madly. "Polling the electorate," he snorts, leaving Bobby is none the wiser.
"You boys better pack it up," Bobby suggests. "I think I finally found something."

Interesting use of the word 'finally' there. With a couple of hundred demons released from hell only a week ago, you'd expect the hunting business to be overwhelmed. Apparently, not so much – not yet, anyway.

Inside the motel room, clothes are strewn all over the floor as Sam knocks on the door, then opens it to let himself in. "Dean? Dean, you conscious? Bobby called, and he thinks that maybe we –"

He sees what his brother and squeeze-of-the-week are in the middle of, looks horrified, and ducks out of the room immediately. Heh. Like he didn't already know what Dean was doing in there. Isn't that the whole reason he was staying out of the way? Gotta love Naïve!Sam.

Later. "Woohoo!" Dean crows, speeding the Impala along another Supernatural deserted road, the car leaping from bump to bump in a surprisingly careless fashion, given how protective he generally is of it.

"Let me see your knife," Sam mildly asks. Dean is a little taken aback and wonders what for. "So I can gouge my eyes out," Sam grumbles.

Dean laughs, playing the 'everything is fantastic' card as hard as he possibly can. "It was a beautiful, natural act, Sam," he teases, Sam having provided him with such perfect ammunition for mockery. In the past week, Dean has saved Sam, seen his father's soul escape hell and find some kind of eternal rest, and killed the Yellow-Eyed Demon that had destroyed his family. That's the best part of 24 years of hard work, pain and responsibility off his shoulders at last. He's practically giddy with relief, and his light-hearted, self-indulgent attitude follows on fairly well from where we left him at the end of All Hell Breaks Loose, still riding the incredible adrenaline high of an impossible task successfully accomplished. After an appallingly stressful couple of years, and with just one year left on the clock and counting, who can blame him for wanting to cut loose and have a little fun?

Trying a little too hard at times in this episode to convince everyone around him that he's absolutely okay with it all? That too, and it's very Dean. Based on his current mood and behaviour, you'd never know that it's only a week since Sam died in his arms, only a week since his despair drove him to sell his own soul to get his brother back, that he now has only a year to live. And that's probably the point. Dean always was the king of denial.

"It's part of you I never wanted to see, Dean." Sam pulls his very best 'my brother is so gross' face. There is no way this exact scenario has not played out at least once, if not many times, before now, not when they've always lived at such close quarters, and not with the two of them being who they are. Which makes it all the more amusing that Sam still reacts like this.

Dean is highly amused, and sincerely thanks his brother for giving him some quality time with 'the doublemint twins'. Heh. Looking well and truly grossed out still, Sam mutters that it's no problem, and Dean is a little surprised. "Really? I got to say, I was expecting a weary sigh, or an eye roll, or something." Because that's what Sam would normally do in response to Dean's tomcat routine, and right now Dean is playing at Everything Is Normal for all he's worth.

"No, not at all," Sam quietly says. "You deserve to have a little fun." Bless his heart, he's trying so hard, trying to give a little back to Dean for everything his brother has given him, but without wanting to say so out loud in as many words, skirting around the issue every bit as much as Dean is.

"Well, I am in violent agreement with you there," Dean cheerfully tells him, and so far they are both very firmly avoiding any direct mention of the issue of just why Dean wants and deserves to have fun.

Dean asks what Bobby's found, and Sam explains. It isn't much – crop failure and a cicada swarm outside of Lincoln, Nebraska. Wasn't Lincoln where John's old friend Caleb lived and met his grisly end? It could be a demonic omen, or it could just be a bad crop and a bug problem. But it's the only lead so far, so they are going. There haven't been any freaky deaths – yet – and Dean exposits that it is weird. "The night the Devil's Gate opened, all these weird storm clouds were sighted over how many cities? Seventeen. You'd think it'd be Apocalypse Now, but it's been five days and bubkis."

So…specifically, it's been just five days since all hell broke loose so literally, rather than a full week.

Sam kind of narrows his eyes at his brother, hearing the impatience in his tone, and Dean shoots an edgy glance back in return. There are two sides to Dean in this episode – the one where he just wants to kick back and have a bit of fun after struggling with such an impossibly heavy load for so long, and the one where he's going stir crazy waiting for the war to begin. Waiting for his life to finally be over, because he knows it's only a matter of time. Sam is indulging the one and worrying about the other.

"What are the demons waiting for?" Dean wants to know.
"Beats me," Sam admits.
"It's driving me crazy," Dean grumbles. "I tell you, if it's going to be war, I wish it'd start already.
"I don't know, man," Sam says. "Be careful what you wish for."

Another loaded glance passes between the brothers. So much that's so hard to talk about, and neither of them wants to be the one to open that conversation.

Just outside Lincoln, Nebraska. Morning. The Impala pulls up outside a random house in the middle of nowhere, to find Bobby already there, waiting for them. I really, really like all this cooperative action, that the three of them are sticking together in this way. With what they are likely to be facing post-Devil's Gate, they are going to need each other. Bobby is an excellent example of how a recurring character can and maybe should grow, because he developed naturally out of the ongoing plot, rather than being devised beforehand and having to be shoehorned in whether he fitted or not.

Ellen isn't mentioned in this episode, which figures, since she's never been an actual hunter per se. For all her fighting talk, we've only ever seen her live her life on the fringes of the business without direct involvement. Presumably she's off sweeping up the remains of her livelihood. I'd like to think she's also busy reuniting with her estranged daughter. At a time like this, they need to stick together.

Eating breakfast while he drives, Dean parks up one-handed, and, as they get out of the car, the brothers comment on the incredibly loud cicadas they can hear buzzing madly all around, noting that it can't be a good sign.

"So, we're eating bacon cheeseburgers for breakfast, are we?" Bobby disapprovingly says to Dean. Heh. He couldn't be sterner if he was related to and responsible for these boys. Everything about their interaction says that he's known them a long time, most likely since they were young. I'd really love some background on that, to know for sure.

"Well, sold my soul, got a year to live. I ain't sweating the cholesterol," Dean retorts.

My first reaction is surprise that he's voicing that issue so freely and openly, indifferently even, especially since he and Sam have been dancing around it up till now, so carefully not saying the words out loud to one another. But he says it almost challengingly, as if daring Bobby – or Sam – to call him on his attitude, to complain about either what he's doing or what he's done. After all, Bobby already lectured him fiercely on the subject at least once that we know of. He's expecting disapproval and hand wringing, and trying to head it off at the pass, using direct confrontation of the issue to avoid the issue. It's like he thinks if he says it often enough he can convince them that it really is real, and there really is no way out, and that he really is good with that. You don't have to worry about me, everything's great. The more openly he says it, the more they back off from confronting him about it, which suits him just fine. But what's funny is that I kinda think bacon cheeseburgers are the kind of thing he'd eat for breakfast anyway if they were on offer, and Bobby would disapprove of that anyway.

Sam chooses to ignore Dean's defiant attitude, because he's in indulgence mode and thus letting Dean get away with more than he normally would, and asks Bobby about the case. "We got a biblical plague here or what?" Bobby suggests that they find out, this house being ground zero of the cicada swarm.

Dean bangs loudly on the door. "Candygram!" Heh. There's no answer, so he picks the lock to gain entrance. Behind him, Sam and Bobby quickly whip out their guns, since they have no idea what they are about to walk into.

Inside the house, a foul smell hits the intrepid trio like a ton of bricks, and is conveyed to viewers not just by their reaction, but also by the sound of flies buzzing. So, we're instantly on alert that they are going to find decaying corpses in there somewhere. "That so can't be a good sign," Dean mutters, pulling his own gun out now, as he takes point on a slow search of the house.

Bobby peels off in one direction, while Sam and Dean take another. This slow, silent casing of the joint is wonderful: such a perfect demonstration of the effortless operational relationship that the brothers have. They work together in such perfect harmony here, which is a joy to watch. It feels like a really long time since we last saw them working in tandem like this.



At length, the brothers hear what sounds like a panicked female voice coming from another room, and cautiously move to investigate. Turns out, the voice is coming from a TV – heh, it's a 30 year-old Dallas rerun – with three badly decomposed corpses sitting on the couch in front of it. Both brothers are grossed out in the extreme, and so is Bobby when he enters the room a moment later. I still love that they always react like that, that no matter how many horrifying things they encounter, they never quite get hardened to it. They all agree that they can't work out what happened here, and Dean suggests that they check for sulphur, which would, of course, be incontrovertible evidence of demonic involvement. That's sensible, so they all hop to and start looking.

"I hate this family!" screeches the girl on the TV, as Dean hears a floorboard creaking on the porch outside the window. He whistles to get the attention of the other two, and then communicates the situation by means of nifty hand signals. I have to say at this point that the camera angles on Dean are absolutely gorgeous in this episode; you can tell that Kim Manners directed it! Okay, and Sam looks good, too. Bobby and Sam quietly gesture to one another and head off – presumably to cover other exits – while Dean cautiously opens the front door and takes a look outside.

We get a watcher's-eye perspective from down in the undergrowth as Dean peers warily around, then back to normal camera angle as he continues to search for the source of the noise he heard.

Someone suddenly pops up behind Dean, swipes the gun from his hand with their shotgun, and then lays him out with it on the uppercut. I guess being able to creep up on Dean and take him out like that, when we know how good he is at what he does, is meant to tell us something about how good this newcomer is.

Now we get a Dean's-eye view from down on the floor, and it's humorous, so we know there's no serious danger here. His attacker trains the shotgun on him, joined by an anxious-looking woman, and then Bobby's voice calls out. "Isaac? Tamara?"

I've never heard the name Tamara pronounced the way it is in this episode, rhyming with 'camera', and it bugs me all the way through. I need to say that now so I don't have to say it again. The character is British – heh, it's the actress who played Cyberwoman Lisa in Torchwood – and in these parts we tend to pronounce it Ta-MAH-ra.

Still lying flat on his back on the floor, Dean tilts his head back, showing us his bloody nose, to see Bobby approaching from around the back. He's upside down, because Dean's on the ground. Then back to normal camera angle as Bobby, Isaac and Tamara all greet one another in amiable fashion, expressing surprise to see each other here, and they clearly know one another at least reasonably well. John might have kept his sons away from the hunting network as much as he possibly could – and the logic behind that is becoming increasingly clear, the more we see of these people – but Bobby seems to know everyone.

Dean's hand shoots into frame from down on the ground. "Hello? Bleeding here!" Heh.

Night. Random big old house. We aren't told where or why. Is this Isaac and Tamara's place? The basement is full of hunting equipment, with research papers pinned to the walls, and they certainly seem to be very much at home. But the house itself seems a bit dilapidated for anyone to comfortably live in. Maybe it's just an abandoned property someplace in town where Isaac and Tamara decided to set up shop before doing any investigating? Shame the show didn't see fit to explicate this point.

Anyhow, Dean is on the phone, sweet-talking some girl named Jenny – and lying through his teeth about having a sister called Jenny – while Sam and Bobby poke about, and Isaac and Tamara potter around gathering up whatever bits and bobs they think they might need.

"Honey, where's the Palo Santo?" Isaac wonders.
"Well, where'd you leave it?" Tamara asks, all wifely.
"I don't know, dear, that's why I'm asking," Isaac points out, rolling his eyes.

Sam wonders what Palo Santo is, and Tamara explains that it's holy wood, from Peru – toxic to demons, like holy water. "Keeps the bastards nailed down while you're exorcising them." She hands a thick stake to Isaac. "You'd lose your head if it wasn't for me."

Two points about this exchange. First, the notion of nailing a demon down while you exorcise it sounds kinda brutal. The demon might be a bastard, but it will be possessing an innocent human being who deserves to be given every chance of being released without harm, so that he or she can get on with the life that's been hijacked, surely. Okay, we've seen Dean twice shoot dead with the magic Colt men who were possessed, but there were extenuating circumstances rendering such extremes necessary both times, and we know that the taking of innocent life weighed heavily on him. He'd never have forgiven anyone who drove a stake through Sam or John while they were possessed. Yet Isaac and Tamara make it sound like standard practice, rather than a tactic of last resort, which in general makes them seem pretty cavalier in their approach to hunting – much like Gordon, last season. And we all know how badly he ended up blurring the lines between right and wrong.

Second, there's something kind of…false about the exchange. Like the writers were trying too hard to sell the old married couple routine and overdid it, and the actors just don't have the chemistry to pull it off and over-acted it, so that their lovey-dovey routine just feels clumsy, clunky and fake. I can be generous and suggest that maybe Isaac and Tamara are feeling awkward about having strangers around while they work and are overcompensating, but still. They just don't convince me, and that drags the episode down a bit, since they play such an important role in it. It's really fascinating, though, to see our boys operating as part of a team of hunters for once, as part of a wider story, rather than being out there on their own as usual. Gives us a whole new perspective of the world they inhabit.

Also – and yeah, this is a third point, when I said only two – the holy wood thing, and Sam not knowing what it is, kind of bugs me a little. I know that the Winchesters not knowing everything has always been a facet of the show, that no matter how long they've been in this game, they always have more to learn. And I totally believe that if John had never heard of or had disregarded something, Dean would completely take that for granted without question. But Sam questions everything, and researches everything. It becomes clear later in the episode that Isaac and Tamara haven't been in the business anywhere near as long as they have, and Palo Santo is right there on Wikipedia, totally Google-able. If they know about it, you'd think Sam, if not Dean, would also have come across it at some point in the process of his research.

Anyway. Sam is amused by the husband-wife interchange, and asks how long they've been married. Eight years, they tell him, behaving more like newlyweds than old marrieds. Some couples are like that, even after 30+ years, so I'll give them a pass on it, although the lack of chemistry between them, combined with poor writing and bad acting, renders it grating.

"The family that slays together…" Isaac begins.

Sam chuckles. "Right. I'm with you there." Once upon a time, the prospect of exacting revenge upon the Yellow-Eyed Demon meant for Sam the moment he'd be able to return to some kind of normal life, but now that it has finally happened, walking away couldn't be further from his mind. Everything has changed since Shadow, Sam's outlook on life perhaps most of all.

Sam asks how Isaac and Tamara got started, and their faces drop like stones. Realising that he just stomped all over someone else's family tragedy of an origin story, Sam glances at Bobby, who gives the most minute shake of the head as direction not to go there, and backtracks at speed, apologising for his nosiness.

Dean wanders back into the room at this point, finishing up his phone call and thus interrupting the awkward conversation, to everyone's relief. "Well, Jenny. If you look as pretty as you sound, I'd love to have an…appletini." Hee. The face he pulls at the notion is what makes it so funny. And the way he rolls his eyes with relief when he's finally able to hang up. Jenny, it seems, is the coroner's tech, and all that flirtatious sweet-talking was in the interests of learning how the family in Lincoln died. "Get this: that whole family, cause of death? Dehydration and starvation. There's no sign of restraint, no violence, no struggle. They just sat down and never got back up."



Bobby and Sam are all disbelief, since there was a fully stocked kitchen just yards away. Me, I'm more puzzled by the timescale, since it is confirmed later that this was caused by one of the newly released demons. It's only a week since those demons were released from hell – that isn't long enough to both starve to death and decompose that badly, surely. Everyone is confused. Even Bobby hasn't seen anything like this before. "And I've seen plenty."

Dean wonders what their next move should be, whereupon Isaac rather rudely interrupts to announce that: "'We' aren't going to do anything."

Sam wonders what he means, affable and relaxed, not suspecting any hostility. They're all on the same side, right?

"You guys seem nice enough," Isaac begins, making me want to smack him for the condescension. "But this ain't Scooby Doo. And we don't play well with others."

Dean's eyebrows shoot up, but it's Sam who objects, at his most reasonable. "Well, I think we'd cover a lot more ground if we all worked together." And that is very true. If ever there was a need for unity among hunters, it is now.

"No offence, but we're not teaming with the damn fools who let the Devil's Gate get opened in the first place," Isaac snits. So why the hell did he invite them all to his house, or hideout, or whatever, then? Whatever this house is – jury's still out on that one. Why start out so friendly if he wants nothing to do with them? As for the notion of the Intrepid Trio being to blame for the Devil's Gate being opened, I object enormously, but will say more on that later. Isaac and Tamara weren't there; they have no idea what really happened. I'm going to assume that Bobby has been contacting all the hunters he knows, to warn them, which would be how they've heard at least the outline of the story, but still. They've got no business judging something they know so little about. This attitude, though, tells us a little about how what went down that day is being interpreted in the wider hunting world, from which the Winchesters were already so isolated. Kind of makes you wonder if Bobby's loyalty to the boys will have an impact on his standing in the hunting community.

Dean's all, 'no offence?' since offence was so clearly intended, and Tamara tries to calm her husband down, pointing out that mistakes are easily made. That's kind of patronising, too, though. Isaac concedes that he has on occasion locked his keys in the car or turned his laundry pink. "Never brought on the end of the world, though."

Dean takes exception, while Sam is kind of abashed at the accusation, pointing out that all this hostility isn't helping. Bobby stays out of it, not giving any clues as to how he feels about the blame being apportioned. Isaac gets all self-righteous and holier than thou about there being a couple of hundred new demons in the world, whose power and nature is unknown. "There aren't enough hunters in the world to handle something like this!"

Which is a good reason, really, why those that are out there fighting the good fight should be working together, surely, since communication and cooperation would, at the very least, prevent overlap.

"You brought war down on us. On all of us," Isaac portentously accuses, whereupon Tamara decides that's quite enough testosterone for one day and hauls him out of the room. Dean, Sam and Bobby are left to exchange meaningful glances.

I…have huge issues with Isaac's attitude and assumptions here, although I do find the actor a lot more convincing than Tamara. I'm going to get ahead of myself a little bit now. We learn later in the episode that Isaac and Tamara's child was killed by a demon, which was what set them on this path. So they have the same very personal hatred of demons that Gordon has for vampires. But, on the other hand, the Winchesters have just as much intensely personal reason to hate demons, but are far less unreasonable about it, managing to remain fair-minded and well-balanced, on the whole, despite the horrors they've lived through. Also? Isaac has no business getting snotty and high-handed with them, like with that 'Scooby Doo' comment, when they've got many years of experience on him. If he and Tamara were married eight years ago, and only took up hunting after their child was killed, they can't have been in the business very long at all in comparison to the 20+ years of the Winchesters, and however much experience Bobby has behind him. I like a bit of tension and conflict in character interactions, but Isaac and Tamara are not winning any sympathy from me so far.

Later. Bobby peers out of a window before pulling the curtains closed. Why are they still hanging around, if Isaac doesn't want to work with them? Why not just cut their losses and go get on with the job without these annoying other hunters? Are they saving money on a motel room for the night by staying there? Or is this house nothing to do with Isaac and Tamara after all, despite them having their hunting gear strewn all over it, in which case where the hell is it and why are they all there?

Outside, a young blonde girl stands watching the house, looking inscrutable. I'm not going to pretend not to know who she is, since she is one of the few things I've been accidentally spoiled about for this season, although her name and the fact of her existence are just about the only things I know. My first reaction? She's way too glossy to be taken seriously as any kind of hunter, or as someone who lives on the road. Perfect hair, makeup and clothes? Please. If Dean and Sam are allowed to be realistically rumpled, why does the show insist, in general, that its young female characters be so unrealistically immaculate?

Day. Beard, from the teaser, wanders into a random store, wherein numerous people are standing around browsing. He approaches a random blonde woman, puts his hand on her shoulder – which takes her aback, but only for a moment, as ominous background demon noise lets us know he's doing something to her with his touch – and comments on how nice a random pair of shoes are. The woman agrees, and goes over to talk to another woman, a brunette, who is about to buy said shoes. They agree that the shoes are nice, although I can't see it myself, and Blonde announces that she wants them. But there is only one pair, and Brunette already has dibs on them.

Brunette heads out of the store carrying her new shoes. Blonde follows, insisting that she wants those shoes. Brunette's like, you're crazy, dudette, whereupon Blonde grabs the back of her head and slams her face into the rear window of a handy nearby car. Once, twice…crack! Blood everywhere. This is kind of a gory episode. As passers by weep, wail and gnash their teeth in horror, but singularly fail to intervene, Blonde lets Brunette's body slump to the ground, picks up the shoes, and walks away, not a care in the world.

Later. The forensic examiner takes photographs and swabs of the scene, while gawkers gawk all around. Sam picks his way through them to observe the proceedings. When I first saw this scene, I was pleased to see Sam alone, thinking that of course Dean wouldn't venture to a fresh crime scene, being wanted by the Feds and all. But then it turns out that Dean is there after all, despite all the cops swarming around; he's gone on ahead into the store.

"What happened outside makes you realise how fragile life really is." Dean is offering platitudes by way of comfort to a random girl in the shop, as Sam wanders in to join him. "You've got to make every second count."

His over-the-top faux-sympathy there kinda sounds like the exaggerated version of himself in Tall Tales, which I suspect is the point. Dean is very much being himself in this episode, but to the nth degree, trying that bit too hard to be his old happy-go-lucky self. It's only been a week since Sam died and was resurrected, since Dean's world shattered into tiny pieces, and he made his fateful decision. Only a week in which to begin to come to terms with what happened, and with what lies ahead. Both brothers could be forgiven for being off-balance and overcompensating.

Sam: "Dean, what are you doing?"
Dean: "Comforting the bereaved. What are you doing?"
Sam: "Workin'."

And that bit right there? That's funny, because Dean winds Sam up like this so often, and Sam falls for it every time. He never seems to remember that Dean can generally manage to flirt with pretty women and still work the job at the same time. Sam starts to remind Dean about the dead body and possible demon attack, and Dean starts pretending to cough. "Sam, you know, I'm sorry. I just don't have much time left, and uh. [Cough!] Gotta make every second count."

Sam backs down immediately, whereupon Dean beams at him, faux-coughing fit immediately over. And it's kind of jarring, because that's the second time now that Dean has brought up the fact that he only has a year to live, and it doesn't seem all that in character for him to rub it in for Sam in this way, guilt-tripping him so ruthlessly, when he knows from bitter experience how devastating it feels to be on the receiving end of a deal like that. He'd never have forgiven anyone who made a joke of what John sacrificed for his sake.

But maybe that's the point. John wasn't around for the aftermath of the deal he made to save Dean's life, but Dean is around for the aftermath of his deal for Sam. And that means having to deal with all the intense emotions that come attached on both sides, when dealing with emotions? Not Dean's strong suite. So much easier to try to make a joke out of it and pretend it's no big deal, no need for anyone to make a fuss or get upset. Keep Sam off balance and thus avoid any deep-and-meaningfuls. Avoid having to actually deal with what happened, because it was too painful to even think about, never mind talk about, and it's done now, no turning back even if he wanted to. It's very reminiscent of how he reacted in the immediate aftermath of John's death, back in Everybody Loves A Clown: trying hard to act normally and convince the world he's fine, but trying too hard, over-selling it.

It's also a very bloke-ish reaction to Sam's death and resurrection and his own sacrifice. This is a man who would never willingly come out and say, 'oh God, I was completely destroyed by your death, and I'm so happy just to have you alive again, no matter what it cost', so he expresses that sentiment by teasing his brother mercilessly. Means the same thing, right?

Dean's overly carefree attitude in this episode is clearly deliberate, and multi-causal. He's riding the high of being relatively burden-free for the first time in years if not ever. He's determined to make the most of the time he has left, because he really believes, 100%, that this is it, no way out, and that that is totally acceptable in exchange for Sam's life. And he's trying hard to convince Sam that this really is it, and that he's really and truly okay with it. He refers directly to the deal and his one-year life expectancy several times during the episode, and the more he mentions it, the more uncomfortable it becomes for Sam to try to talk to him about it. Talking about it is the last thing Dean wants; what he wants is for Sam to just accept it and move on, let the wound heal rather than pick at it. He's bludgeoning the point home with a sledgehammer, in effect, because Dean doesn't do subtle: 'I made my choice and I stand by it,' is what he's trying to communicate, but without actually saying it out loud in as many words. 'And now you need to accept it, too, because it is going to happen and nothing can stop it, and I really believe it's for the best.'

"Whoa! Looking spiffy, Bobby." Dean wolf-whistles as Bobby approaches, and for a moment there I didn't even recognise him, because wow. He's been surgically separated from his cap. And he's wearing a suit! It looks so very wrong on him. Bobby's even less of a suit-wearing kind of guy than Dean is, which is saying a lot.



Bobby has been masquerading as an attorney for the DA's office, he explains and just spoke to the suspect. He reports that there were none of the usual signs of possession. "No blackouts, no loss of control. Totally lucid. Just…she really wanted those shoes. Spilled a glass of holy water on her, just to be sure. Nothing."

I really, really enjoy the way Bobby works with the boys. They make such a seamless team. It's all about mutual trust and respect developed over a long period of time.

Dean – eyes following a pretty store attendant as she passes – wonders if she was just a random whackjob, and Bobby concedes that if it was an isolated incident he might think so. But with that family added to the mix, he's not convinced. "I believe in a lot of things. Coincidence ain't one of them."

He asks if the boys have found anything in the store, and Sam shakes his head. No sulphur, nothing. Dean begs to differ, and draws their attention to the CCTV camera in the store, as the punchline of his Sam-tease from the top of the scene. "See – I'm workin'!"

That CCTV footage is wonderfully clear and distinct. I'm very impressed. The Intrepid Trio watch as Beard approaches Blonde on the monitor, thus setting the deadly train of events into motion. "Could just be a guy," Sam thoughtfully notes. "Or, might be our guy."

Outside. Dean and Bobby head off in one direction, while Sam saunters away in another. Where they are each going and why they have split up, we are not told. Dean bids his brother farewell with an affectionate smack to the chest, something he does numerous times throughout this episode, probably without even noticing that he's doing it. He's just so glad to have Sam there, alive and well and working alongside him, but he can't say that out loud, so it shines through in other ways. Dean has always been prone to the more physical displays of affection, casual cuffs and thumps, whereas Sam tends to touch only if he has a point to make.

Glossy Blonde, who we earlier saw lurking outside the house in enigmatic fashion, is now hanging around the streets watching Sam, in similarly enigmatic fashion. She starts to follow him, and it doesn't take Sam long to kind of get the sense that he's being followed, but just as he turns to see who it is, she disappears behind a convenient large box being carried across the street. And that kind of irks me, because it creates a cinematically false impression of her being really super-efficient at the stalking business, when there's no way she could have known that cover would be provided at the precise moment that Sam turned around. If the man carrying the box hadn't been there at the exact right second, she'd have been caught right out in the open with no place to hide. So…it's intriguing to wonder why she's following Sam, but the logistics are a wee bit irritating.

Anyway. Glossy Blonde is no longer in sight when Sam turns around, so he stands there looking pensive as he wonders why he had that crawling feeling in his spine if there was no one there.

Random Bar. Dean and Bobby sit in Bobby's decidedly beat-up car, staking out the joint. It's seven past midnight, Dean informs us when Bobby asks. Bobby asks if Dean is sure this is the right place, and Dean isn't. "But I spent all day canvassing this stupid town with this guy's stupid mug. Supposedly, he drinks at this stupid bar."

So, Dean's not enjoying the legwork on this case, then.

Sam appears and thumps on Dean's window at this point, causing both his brother and Bobby to almost jump out of their skin. He laughs with glee at their reaction, and it is beautiful to see, as it suddenly occurs to me that I can't remember the last time I saw Sam as relaxed as he is in this episode. He's also riding the post-Yellow-Eyed Demon high, the weight just rolling off his shoulders, albeit with a brand new focus for his obsessive-compulsive tendencies added. He's troubled, yes, concerned about Dean's fate, but in general more relaxed than we've seen him in a very long time – I'd almost forgotten how much fun he can be when he relaxes. He spent most of last season almost paralysed with fear, terrified of what the Yellow-Eyed Demon had planned for him, of what he might become, what he might do, and all that is over now. The Yellow-Eyed Demon is dead and gone, and that means that Sam is free – at least as far as he knows so far. The relief must be immense; Sam was a hell of a lot more afraid of that demon than he was of dying.

While Dean grumbles that it isn't funny, Sam opens the door and shoves the passenger seat forward, with Dean still in it, so he can climb over his brother into the back seat. And that? Is genuinely funny. Because it is so very real and exactly how siblings behave. Dean isn't the only one enjoying the opportunity to wind his brother up in this episode.

Sam reports that Beard's name is Walter Rosen from Oak Park, just west of Chicago, who went missing about a week ago. The night the Devil's Gate opened. So, it seems a good bet that he is possessed by one of the escaping demons, which, of course, viewers already know. Sam asks if it's possible that this guy could just walk up to someone, touch them, and turn them stark raving psycho. "These demons that got out of the Gate, they're gonna be able to do all kinds of things we haven't seen," Bobby sombrely cautions.

"You mean the demons we let out," Sam bitterly snits, having apparently taken Isaac's ranting to heart. I have to smack him down on that point, though. The Intrepid Trio – and Ellen – were there, yes. But they did not let the demons out. Jake did that, and the fact that they were there meant that the Gate was closed before anything worse could happen.

Bobby, who has yet to be drawn on that topic, glances over his shoulder at Sam with a little frown, but then Dean calls their attention back to the task at hand before they can get into any kind of debate about blame and responsibility. Walter Rosen himself has just rocked up to the bar.

Dean's ready to follow him right on into the bar, but Bobby advises they wait a minute first. Dean wonders why. "What did I just say?" Bobby gruffly snips. "We don't know what to expect out of this guy. We should tail him till we know for sure."

"Oh, so he kills someone, and we just sit here with our junk in our hands?" Dean protests. He really is itching for some action, getting trigger-happy with inactivity. Too much post-Devil's Gate mopping up to do, only a year to do it in, and one week down already. Dean's very much a man of action, and keeping busy no doubt also keeps his mind off the fate lying in store for him.

"We're no good dead!" Bobby retorts, exasperated. Although Dean's probably not the best person to make that point to, death being something of a contentious issue right now, and he certainly gives Bobby a long hard look as he continues, "We're not going to make a move until we know what the score is."

The fact that the brothers defer to Bobby so automatically is perhaps the biggest evidence of all that he knew them as youngsters. I enjoy it when Bobby starts laying down the law, because he's earned the respect the brothers give him, and the fact that he trusts and respects them in return no doubt makes it much easier to cede authority to him when he joins them on a job. He's got years of experience on them, even if he does mostly seem to focus on research over action in the field. Together, the three of them make an excellent team.

"Hey, Bobby? I don't think that's an option," Sam tightly interjects, drawing attention to another car that's just pulled up.

It's Isaac and Tamara, and they're headed right on in to the bar. "Dammit!" Bobby is furious with exasperation at such recklessness.

Bar. It seems like a pretty normal joint, with a handful of people scattered around the room, as Walter Rosen sits at the bar with a beer. Isaac and Tamara take a table and discuss their next move, Isaac pulling a silver flask of holy water out of an inside pocket. And, okay, he keeps it low, but still. It's not the stealthiest of moves, especially not when his quarry is sitting right there – behind him, even, so that Isaac doesn't know if he's looking in his direction. Such a rookie move. Even I know you should never turn your back on an opponent.

Walter Rosen wanders past on his way to the men's room, which is Isaac's cue to make his move. He tells Tamara to pull the car up, that they'll be right out, and Tamara clasps his hand adoringly. "I love you," she tells him, totally overplaying the sentiment. Sheesh. Are they this over-the-top on every job they work? Because they are behaving more as if it is their first time than something they do regularly. I'd enjoy the couple so much more if they behaved more naturally, had more convincing chemistry.

Isaac starts to walk to the men's room, only for a random bald guy to stop him and demand to know what he's doing. Every eye in the room is instantly on the confrontation. Isaac dissembles that he's just hitting the head, but Baldie snatches the flask from his hand and tosses it aside. "No, I mean, what do you think you're doing here?" His eyes flash black, and Isaac and Tamara begin to realise just how much trouble they are in. "I don't like hunters in my bar!" the demon growls.

The handful of other people in the bar gather around, every one of them now sporting demon black eyes. Heh. After the Roadhouse as an ill-fated meeting place for hunters last season, it amuses me no end that this bar is now demon central.

Loud banging at the door ensues. It's Dean and Bobby, trying desperately to bust the doors open to provide backup for their fellow hunters. No joy. When exactly where the doors locked, anyway, and why didn't Isaac and Tamara notice, since they were sitting so close? "Man, you really walked into the wrong place," Walter Rosen chuckles.

The various demons gathered around the bar laugh at the notion of having a couple of hunters at their mercy. A few of them make lascivious noises about Tamara, who is wigging out big time at the predicament she and her husband are in, and Isaac makes angry noises in her defence. Then one of the demons walks up to Isaac and puts a hand on his shoulder, accompanied by that background demon noise as warning that something really bad is about to happen. "I've got something for you," he coos, holding up a large can of drain cleaner. "Have a drink on me."

While Tamara shouts in fear, Isaac looks from the demon to the can a few times, as if puzzled, then takes the can, and starts to drink. It's a really gruesome scene to watch, really disturbing, all the demons laughing their heads off and Tamara shouting desperately for her husband, who is basically forced to commit suicide. He chugs at the drain cleaner until it erodes his insides away, then drops the can, starts spewing blood, and drops to the ground, dead, with Tamara shrieking in anguish the whole time. And although they haven't exactly impressed me – certainly haven't covered themselves in glory with their prowess as hunters – it still saddens me to watch it. Another soldier down, with the war barely begun.

Bobby drives his car right through the door before the celebrating demons can turn on Tamara. And this is why they came here in Bobby's car rather than the Impala: for the sake of this scene. Dean would not want to plough his baby through a wall like that, not again, after Sam already did it in the Pilot.

The Intrepid Trio leap out of the car and start hurling holy water around the place. With the demons successfully beaten back, Sam grabs Tamara and hauls her into the car. She's still shrieking for Isaac, but Sam can see only too well that he's already dead, and stopping to retrieve his body for her is out of the question. Tamara successfully rescued, Sam and Bobby get back in the car and prepare to retreat, Sam yelling at Dean to do likewise. Dean continues his holy water battle with Walter Rosen, only for his supply to run out. Walter Rosen laughs, believing he has the upper hand, whereupon Dean uses the empty canister as a blunt instrument to knock him about with, and swiftly dump him in the trunk, which has a devil's trap painted inside the hood. Fantastic. Dean leaps into the car, and the gang beat a hasty retreat.

The demons are not happy about being thwarted by a bunch of humans.

Samuel Colt's devil's trap, the massive one made of iron railway tracks – that was basically just a gigantic pentagram, right? It didn't have the circle around the star, and didn't have the other symbols that a standard devil's trap generally has dotted in between the spokes. I find myself wondering what difference all those trimmings make, just how sophisticated a devil's trap has to be, and how much that level of sophistication – or lack thereof – contributes to the effectiveness of it? Because some that we see are pretty intricate, while others were clearly dashed off in a hurry and are rough around the edges, but they all seem to work just the same. Maybe all the power lies in the action and intent, rather than the execution? You'd think accuracy would be important, though.

House. Walter Rosen is tied to a chair beneath a devil's trap painted on the ceiling. This is a familiar sight. In the next room, Tamara is arguing loudly that they have to go back. "I left my husband bloody on the floor!"

Sam is trying to reason with her about what an incredibly bad move that would be, but the freshly bereaved are never what you'd call open to reason. That's pretty much the entire reason Sam is standing there right now, in fact. Tamara insists that she's going back to that bar, and Dean – who's been itching for some action all episode – readily offers to go with her. The last time we saw Dean so gung-ho and desperate for action was in Bloodlust, when he was still struggling to come to terms with John's death. He's every bit as messed up in the head now as he was back then, beneath the happy-go-lucky surface. "It's suicide, Dean!" Sam protests.

"So what? I'm dead already," Dean flatly states. And that attitude tells us a little something about just how unsettling his death sentence really is for him, about why he's so determined to live in the moment and make the most of every second that he can, when he's got only that to look forward to. How could anyone face what he's facing and not be afraid? That makes three times now that he has referred directly to the deal and his time-limited life span, like if he says it often enough it'll start to sink in, for himself perhaps as much as for Sam. Saying it out loud makes it real.

Sam takes a second, doesn't rise to the bait, and applies reason once more. "How are you going to kill them? Can't shoot 'em. Can't stab 'em. They're not just going to wait in line to get exorcised."



Tamara shrieks that she doesn't care, and Sam yells at her that they don't even know how many demons there are. Tensions are running very, very high. It's been a tumultuous and emotional time for them all just lately.

Bobby, who has had his nose in a book throughout the debate, interrupts to announce that actually they do know how many there are: seven. "Do you have any idea who we're up against?" he grits, and for almost the first time since we've met him, he sounds really, really scared, which hits hard, because Bobby has always been such a cool, calm head in a crisis. But recent events have shaken him up badly, too, and the strain is starting to show.

Dean obligingly asks who, which gives Bobby the cue he wanted for a big, dramatic reveal. "The Seven Deadly Sins," he announces. "Live and in the flesh!"

News like that kind of deserves a drum roll, or crash of thunder, or something. Doesn't get one, though. Everyone is pretty taken aback. Dean recovers first, characteristically seeing the humour inherent in the situation. "What's in the box?" he crows, but gets only blank stares in response. Nobody ever gets Dean's humour or film references, and yet he persists with them. "Brad Pitt, Seven?" he has to explain. "No?" They still don't get it.

Bobby shoves the book he's been reading from into Dean's hands, all exasperated again because he's really not in the mood for levity. He explains that the book is Bensfield's classification of demons, and that way back in the 16^th century this Bensfield character ID'd the seven deadly sins not just as human vices but as actual devils.

Sam realises that the family were touched by Sloth. That still doesn't explain how they starved to death and decomposed in less than a week. The shopper was touched by Envy, of course, currently wearing the body of Walter Rosen, the customer they've got in the next room. Bobby explains that Isaac provided the final clue. "He was touched with an awful Gluttony."

Tamara really, really does not care. "I don't give a rat's arse if they're the Three Stooges or the Four Tops. I'm going to slaughter every last one of them!"

Bobby, who is fast losing what's left of his temper, gets right up in her face and points out that they already tried it her way. "You burst in there half-cocked and look what happened!"

Way to rub it in about her husband's death. Oh, and check the little side eyes, with raised eyebrows, that Sam and Dean shoot each other as Bobby rants at Tamara. Hee. Totally like a pair of kids watching their parent dress someone else down.

"These demons haven't been topside in half a millennium!" Bobby continues to shout. "We're talking medieval – dark ages! We've never faced anything close to this! So we're gonna take a breath, and FIGURE OUT WHAT OUR NEXT MOVE IS!"

Tamara seethes, but has no comeback. I can't help but think that half the reason Bobby is so furious right now is that he's remembering the last grief-stricken person he tried to deal with, which would be Dean, just a week ago, and how that turned out. He tried to be gentle, tried to give him the time and space he needed, and it backfired massively on him when Dean turned around and made that demonic deal to bring Sam back. So, with that very recent experience and all its associated emotions providing motivation not to make the same mistakes twice, he's employing a different tactic here to try and make Tamara see sense and not go rushing off into even worse trouble.

"I am sorry for your loss," Bobby remembers to add at the end of his rant. Then the two of them storm out of the room, leaving the Winchester brothers alone to process. Silently. They both kind of shuffle around, throwing awkward silent glances at one another, since the parallels between Tamara's current situation and their own very recent history are pretty obvious, but that's an issue they are very much Not Talking About right now. Sam leaves the room, and Dean quietly follows.

In the other room, Envy is laughing merrily, having heard every word. Bobby tells him that they know who he is, and aren't impressed, and Sam wants to know why he is here, what he's after. Envy says nothing. Dean opts for the Bad Cop role, annoyed that his brother's question is being ignored, and repeats it more forcefully. What does the demon want?

Envy laughs, then flinches when Dean casually flings holy water at him. "We already have what we want," he tells the hunters, triumphant. "We're out. We're free. Thanks to you, my kind are everywhere. I am legion, for we are many. I'm just celebrating. Having a little fun."

Eh, I guess if his last trip out of hell was in the 16^th century, the biblical quoting makes some kind of sense. I really wish they'd all lay off with blaming the Intrepid Trio for releasing all those demons, though. They didn't. Jake did, on behalf of the Yellow-Eyed Demon. Yes, they were there when it all played out, and yes, they were unable to prevent the devil's gate being opened. But they did the best they could. If they hadn't worked out where to go, hadn't realised the threat Jake posed in terms of crossing that giant devil's trap in place of the Yellow-Eyed Demon, hadn't got there in time to confront him, hadn't managed to close the Gate, it would have been a hell of a lot worse. The Yellow-Eyed Demon was an ancient, powerful evil that had been planning this for generations. And Dean killed him, when no one else had been able to even get close, which means that the worst of his plans have been thwarted. It was not their fault. Yes, a war has been unleashed and is likely to be ugly, but it was desired and initiated by a demon. Blaming the soldiers who were on the front line at the time helps no one, and serves only to divide the forces of good at a time when they most need to be united. I guess that's a good reason for this demon, here, to be playing that card. Divide and rule.

Sam questions Envy's use of the word 'fun', totally rising to the bait, because a guilty nerve has been struck. He does feel responsible for what happened, tainted by association. "See, some people crochet," Envy taunts. "Others golf. Me? I like to see peoples' insides on their outside."

Tamara grits that she's going to put him down like a dog, but Envy just laughs. "You really think you're better than me? Which one of you can cast the first stone? Huh? What about you, Dean? You're practically a walking billboard of gluttony and lust."

Dean has no problem with this definition, conceding the truth in it with a little shrug.

"And Tamara," Envy continues. "All that wrath. Ooh. It's the reason you and Isaac became hunters in the first place, isn't it? It's so much easier to drink in the rage than to face what really happened all those years ago."

Sounds pretty similar to John's origin story, to be honest, as well as Gordon's. It seems a lot of hunters are driven into the business by personal tragedy and loss, which isn't really all that surprising. Grief, anger and vengeance are powerful motivators.

Tamara's fragile temper snaps, and she starts whaling on the guy, Bobby and Dean swiftly intervening to pull her off. Bobby pushes past Sam to get there, while Sam remains immobile and doesn't react to Tamara, in fact. Envy laughs again, his point proved. "And you call us sins. We're not sins, man. We are natural, human instinct, and you can repress and deny us all you want, but the truth is, you are just animals." Dean casts his eyes down, and nods a little, like he can see the truth in that statement. "Horny, greedy, hungry, violent animals," Envy continues to taunt. "And you know what? You'll be slaughtered like animals, too. The others? Are coming for me."

Dean smiles a tight, dangerous smile; the close-ups in this episode really are gorgeous. "Maybe. But they're not gonna find you. 'Cause you'll be in hell." Envy starts to look dismayed, as if it hadn't occurred to him that exorcism would be on the cards. Dean straightens up and walks away. "Someone send this clown packing."

Tamara steps up for the job. "My pleasure."

She really hates demons, and this particular one just helped murder her husband. No one argues her right to be the one to send it back to hell. They also don't question whether or not it is safe to leave her alone with it, given her attitude and current state of mind. Neither do they remind her that the demon is not synonymous with its body-jacked host, who is an innocent victim in all this. She begins the exorcism, and Envy starts to yell in pain.

"I don't think we're going to have to worry about hunting them," Bobby grimly remarks, as he and the boys retire to the next room to discuss their situation. "I think maybe this joker's right – they're going to be hunting us. And they're not gonna quit easy."

"You guys, why don't you take Tamara and head for the hills. I'll stay back, slow 'em down. Buy a little time?" Dean immediately suggests, way too readily. It makes sense that if he considers his own future a lost cause, he'd believe that if anyone is going to place themselves in danger it should be him, since he's got nothing to lose but a few short months, and the whole point of that was Sam alive. Sam getting killed again within a week would be unthinkable. But even taking that into account, Dean does seem very quick to jump on board with potentially suicidal notions in this episode, without even stopping for a second to think about it, and you can see why it's getting Sam worked up. I can't help wondering if maybe somewhere at the back of his subconscious Dean also thinks that if he gets himself killed ahead of schedule, it'll somehow let Sam off the hook of trying to find a loophole in his deal without ever having to find out about the catch. Or if the notion of getting himself killed in action sooner rather than later is preferable to living a whole year in the knowledge of what he's facing at the end of it.

"You're insane, Dean," Sam instantly and very firmly tells him. "Just forget about it, okay?"

Bobby looks from one to the other and sides with Sam.

"There's six of them, guys," Dean points out. "We're outgunned, out-manned. We'll be dead by dawn."
"Maybe," Bobby admits, ever the voice of reason. "But there's no place to run that they won't find us."
"Look," Sam firmly insists. "If we're going down, we're going down together. All right?"

The look on his face kills me, so earnest. Sam is absolutely gorgeous in this episode, more adorable than he's ever been. He's not sinking into hopeless broodiness over Dean's deal and fate, as he might have in the past. Having resisted everything the Yellow-Eyed Demon threw at him and come through it with his moral integrity intact, he's found strength he never knew he had, stiffening his resolve to save the brother who gave up literally everything he had to save him. And I love that about him. He's trying so hard to come to terms with everything that's happened and that lies ahead, still has doubts and still has fears, but he's grown up a huge amount in one fell swoop – in show terms, only a week or so. And it looks good on him. But he's so very apprehensive here, and not just because of the six deadly demons they very shortly expect to besiege them. Dean's future and current state of mind are enormous concerns. From Sam's point of view, not knowing about the catch, Dean's fatalism has got to feel like mistrust in Sam's ability to save him, which he is so determined to not to fail at.

Rather than argue, Dean just shrugs and gives in. "Let's not make it easy for them."

A blood-curdling scream punctuates the conversation, and a tremor shakes the house, extinguishing the candle that had been burning nearby. Why the house is candlelit, I'm not sure. It's the 21^st century. Surely there must be electric lights there somewhere. Anyway, the exorcism is over, Walter Rosen slumped forward in his restraints. That was quick. Tamara snaps her book shut and stalks out of the room to inform the menfolk that the demon is out of the guy.

"And the guy?" Sam asks.
"He didn't make it," Tamara curtly replies.

Didn't make it how? What exactly did she do to him that he didn't survive the process of being exorcised? He seemed perfectly undamaged before she began. Why should some people not survive exorcism while others do? The reason Meg Masters died was because of the injury her body had suffered during her possession, not because of the exorcism itself. Sam made it through intact, traumatic though his possession was, and it was never once suggested that the exorcism might endanger his life. So what is it about some exorcisms that makes them so brutal? Does it rest entirely in the hands of the person wielding the Latin?

Tamara seems perfectly indifferent to the fact that an innocent man has died as a result of the exorcism she conducted, and okay, the fact that she just watched her husband die is undoubtedly colouring her actions and reactions. But she already had this attitude toward demons even before Isaac's death – look at her comment earlier about nailing them down with the Palo Santo stakes. It seems pretty clear that she has never distinguished between a demon and the host body it is occupying. That's clearly an attitude that stems from her history and reasons for becoming a hunter in the first place, but such ruthlessness and indifference toward the innocent sets her on the other side of a dividing line. It's the difference in priorities between hunting because you care only about destroying evil at all costs, and hunting because you want to save lives from that evil.

Later. Dean sits on the floor, quietly loading up a shotgun. I'm not sure what he's packing – rock salt doesn't have the same impact on demons as it does spirits. Maybe consecrated rounds of some kind? Shooting at a demon-possessed person doesn't harm the demon in any way, only damages the body it is wearing, and thus should be a last resort only. I suspect Dean just feels better for having something to do, for having a weapon in his hands, a comfort thing – we've seen that before. Sam sits nearby filling up containers with holy water. I'm going to guess they've been doing a lot of those Do It Yourself blessings over the water in this house. This room is candlelit, as well, so maybe there really isn't any electricity supply. I still can't work out just what this house is meant to be, but temporary base of operations seems most likely.

Sam glances across at Dean, and finds his brother's eyes already resting on him. It's a very intense moment. Every hope and dream Dean has ever entertained, everything he has and is – it's all invested in Sam now. That's pretty huge. I kinda suspect that Dean has spent quite a bit of the last week, in quiet moments like this, just watching Sam, drinking in the sheer fact of him being alive. They hold one another's eyes for only a few seconds, but wow, it's a moment absolutely loaded with love and with understanding, with concern, and with everything else that they can't bring themselves to say out loud right now. Everything they've been through together, everything that lies ahead, every difference of opinion regarding what Dean did and what it means, it's all right there, communicated in that look.

A floorboard creaks outside, and the radio near Sam's head sparks to life. Ever have trouble getting the station you want? Just employ a demon to stand nearby. Dean pumps his shotgun and clambers to his feet to peer out of the boarded up window alongside his brother. "Here we go."

Here they go indeed. If the conversation earlier is anything to judge by, they really aren't expecting to make it through the night, none of them. They're out-numbered, with the odds stacked against them. We've seen many times before how much damage just one demon can inflict, never mind a round half-dozen.

A thick line of rock salt lines the front door. Salt might not damage a demon if you throw or shoot it at one, but they can't cross it. So it makes a good line of defence, but you can't rely on it – too easily melted or otherwise shifted. Bobby and Tamara are also peering out of boarded up windows, listening intently.

Then Isaac's voice starts to bellow Tamara's name, and she is distraught. Of all the dirty tricks the demons could have played, this one is just plain cruel. Although, of course, that's kinda their MO. Dean told us that way, way back at the start of season one, in Phantom Traveler. 'Demons don't want anything, just death and destruction for its own sake.' And so Isaac is being used as a weapon against Tamara, begging her for help.

Bobby quietly reminds her that it isn't Isaac, it's one of the demons, possessing his corpse. That's pretty gruesome, like, a demon-powered zombie. Tamara nods, lips pressed tightly together, clutching at her Palo Santo stake and sobbing silently. Demon!Isaac hammers on the door and begs her for help, accusing her of abandoning him when he needed her most, when he was hurt, and damn, but demons know exactly how to twist the knife so it'll hurt most.

"We swore, at that lake, in Michigan. Remember?" he reminds her. "We swore we would never leave each other!" Tamara is all but undone, sobbing to Bobby that the demon couldn't know that. Except, of course, that it could. Demons have ways of seeing into the mind and picking out the truths that will hurt the most. Bobby pats her shoulder and tries to calm her down, but the demon keeps stabbing at that raw nerve. "You're just gonna let me die? I guess that's what you do, dear. Like that night those things came to our house. Came for our daughter! You just let her die, too!"

And thus we have the full background story on how and why Isaac and Tamara became hunters, and why they hate demons so very intensely. Just how and why their presumably infant daughter came to be killed by a demon is not explained. It would be interesting to know how long ago it happened, though, to give an idea of just how long they have been hunting. For all their big talk, they haven't actually come across as all that experienced.

Tamara can't take any more, thrusts the door open and charges out – breaking the salt line. She hurls herself at Demon!Isaac, and the pair of them go rolling down the steps. Hitting the ground, she screams at him that he's not Isaac, and plunges her Palo Santo stake right through his chest. The demon screams, although what happens to it after that we aren't told or shown. The Palo Santo is supposed to pin it down while it is exorcised, rather than killing or otherwise banishing the demon itself. Also, we're back to my earlier point about the Palo Santo. It's probably just as well Isaac is already dead, really. If a living host was staked like that, they'd be dead the moment the demon left their body, an innocent victim condemned to death by the ruthless methods of a hunter more interested in destroying demons than in saving lives.

Meanwhile, there are five more demons making their way into the house now its defences have been breached. Four head straight upstairs, while the fifth, a decidedly portly chap, heads straight for Bobby. So…this would be Greed, perhaps? Or Sloth? It isn't clear. Gluttony was the chap who touched Isaac, and this isn't him. I'm going to go with Greed, based on the circumstantial evidence.

Bobby backs away at speed, looking about as terrified as we've ever seen him. He backs away, and backs away, and the demon follows, and follows – and then stops dead in its tracks as if hitting an invisible wall. It can't go any further, looks up – there's that devil's trap painted on the ceiling right above it. Yay Bobby! The demon is dismayed at having been tricked, and Bobby smirks triumphantly. "Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life, son."

Upstairs, Dean is pursued by a demon wearing a rather attractive young woman as its meat suit. She'd totally be his type if she wasn't possessed. They tussle, the demon knocking Dean's flask of holy water from his hand, and he backs away, backs away, the smirking demon casually following.

Downstairs, Bobby gets started on the exorcism of his chap, who bellows his rage, while Dean, upstairs, backs into a small room. "I suppose you're Lust?" he remarks to the demon as she advances toward him. Figures that Lust would go after Dean. He is, after all, very much a tomcat. It's interesting, though, to note that Dante also gave a definition of lust simply as 'excessive love of others', not necessarily sexual in nature, his point being that God therefore took a second place in the heart of anyone who loved another that much. And that is also very much a definition that fits Dean, who has always put the people he loves ahead of any and every other consideration.

"Baby, I'm whatever you want me to be," Lust croons.
"Yeah, whatever. Stay back," Dean warns.
"Or what?" she wants to know.
"Good point," he concedes.

The demon coos that she's not going to hurt him, not yet, not unless he wants her to, and she lays her hand on his shoulder, background demon noise reminding us that touch is how these demons do their thing…. Snogging ensues.

Elsewhere in the house, a door bursts off its hinges, and the three remaining demons have Sam cornered. Gluttony, who we met in the bar, is one of them, as well as a female demon who hasn't been identified. If Baldie was Wrath – and he isn't here, so clearly he was the host abandoned in favour of Isaac's corpse – and I've decided the fat chap dealing with Bobby is Greed, then this must be Sloth. The seventh is about to be identified for us.

The lead demon, wearing a snappy suit and clearly believing himself all kinds of clever and funny, stops the others from moving any further, and looks up at the devil's trap they've not yet stepped under. "Come on. You really think something like that is going to fool someone like me? I mean – me?"

"Let me guess. You're Pride," Sam deduces, looking pretty freaked, as well he should, being confronted by three demons at once in this way.



Pride smirks and waves a hand, causing the devil's trap on the ceiling to crack right open, rendering it useless. Now that's a nifty ability that you can bet other demons wish they possess. Sam now has no defence other than the little canister of holy water in his hand, and there are three of them, and he's cornered. "The root of all sin," Pride pridefully admits. "And you are Sam Winchester."

Sam's eyes go wide at the recognition. He'd believed he was free of demonic attention now. But we've seen many times in the past that demons know all kinds of things about all kinds of people, can just reach into their heads and pull the information out, so just knowing his name doesn't have to mean anything….

"That's right, I've heard of you," Pride continues. "We've all heard of you. The prodigy. The boy-king. Looking at you now, I've got to tell you – don't believe the hype. You think I'm going to bow to a cut-rate, piss-poor human like you? I have my pride, after all."

Sam's lip curls a little in scorn at the attempt at humour, while he continues to be freaked. It's very, very interesting to hear what Pride has to say, and weigh it up against what we know of the Yellow-Eyed Demon's plans. He intended for his chosen child to be the leader of an army of demons – this army of demons. Sam is the last man standing among the special children, and thus, by default, is the chosen child, the intended general. If the Yellow-Eyed Demon had not been killed when he was, there can be no doubt that he'd have pursued Sam to the ends of the earth trying to force him to do his bidding, would have used every weapon in his considerable arsenal by means of coercion – that's another terrible fate that Dean has saved Sam from. But the Yellow-Eyed Demon is dead now, leaving his plans in ruins, with no one to enforce the authority he intended for Sam, who certainly has no intention of exploring that option of his own volition. The army of demons is on the loose, but with no one to lead or control them they are free to please themselves.

It seems pretty certain that this is a sub-plot that will recur during the season ahead, although how important it will become remains to be seen. Sam was the Yellow-Eyed Demon's chosen child, the intended leader of his army – there have to be repercussions from that. This encounter right here is Sam's first taste of it.

"And now, with your Yellow-Eyed friend dead, I guess I don't have to do a damn thing, now, do I?" Pride smirks. "You're fair game now, boy. And it's open season."

Is it possible that Sam will become more of a target than ever because of the Yellow-Eyed Demon's demise? That trying to take out his chosen child will be seen as some kind of badge of honour among them, especially among those who perhaps weren't that keen to acknowledge his authority in the first place, but were willing to go along with it in the interest of gaining their freedom? It's fascinating to speculate what could lie ahead this season!

Upstairs, Dean and Lust are still snogging lustily, but it turns out that Dean is using the distraction to manoeuvre her through the room until she's right where he wants her…then, slam! He breaks the kiss, and dunks her head first into a bathtub full of holy water. Go Dean! The demon howls in pain and rage as he holds her under. He pulls her out again after a moment, as the human body she's wearing still needs to breathe if the host is to survive – and that, right there, is the difference between the Winchester approach to hunting and the Isaac/Tamara/Gordon approach to hunting – then dunks her once more.



Just how Dean managed to retain the presence of mind to achieve this victory while the demon was doing her lusty mind-warping thing to him is anyone's guess. Maybe it helps that he's generally pretty aware of, comfortable, and at ease with that side of his personality, whereas others might tend to deny and repress their perceived flaws?

Elsewhere, Sam is in big trouble, as Pride starts knocking him about and then gets him into a tight chokehold. Eh, talk about a return to form, Sam being strangled. Also – choked by Pride, when pride tends to be one of Sam's major character flaws and was a primary factor in his lengthy estrangement from the family? Ah, the symbolism.

So, Sam is being strangled, and Pride is enjoying himself thoroughly, and then Glossy Blonde stalks into the room out of nowhere, pulls a knife out of a sheaf worn on her thigh – which would totally get her arrested if a cop saw it, lethal weapons not being encouraged as part of the average dress code – and plunges into the fray. One of the demons, Gluttony, turns to confront her, only to get his throat sliced open, in a blaze of red fire. Clearly, this is no average knife, just like the Colt was no average gun. So far, so reasonable. If I could accept the Colt, I can accept the knife. But the pose she strikes as she makes the kill? Not so much. I'd enjoy this scene a whole lot more without the slo-mo effect and posturing, because it implies that this is a special moment – a special girl – rather than treating it and her as an integral part of the story being told. It creates a divide in the narrative, rather than allowing it to flow.

Or maybe the slo-mo specialness of the moment is intended as an introduction to the magic knife, rather than the girl who just happens to be wielding it? Hey, maybe Sam can get hold of the knife in the course of time, and use it on the Crossroads Demon right at the fateful hour, just as Dean is in the middle of being chomped on by her hellhounds. Although of course that would mean sacrificing her human host and thus be a moral dilemma, and if Dean knew he'd still consider it a risk, given the threat against Sam's own life laid down in the small print…. Ahem. Okay, so I'm speculating way ahead of myself now! Back to the action.

A second demon – the one I've decided is Sloth – turns to the girl, growling, "You!" as if it knows her. What we're supposed to make of that, I have no idea, but hope for clarification later in the season. It smacks her around a bit, just so we know the girl is fallible after all, but she recovers, dives forward, and plunges her magic knife into the demon's throat. Cue blaze of red fire, and demonic death.

Not too worried about the lives of the human hosts, is this chick, which tells us something about her. There's a pretty clear divide in this episode between the different types of warriors fighting in this war – those who care about human loss of life, and those who don't. Maybe that's an important theme to be established at the start of the new season.

Pride has now realised that there's a problem and releases Sam to go after this new target. He gets Glossy Blonde into a tight grip, out of which she is unable to extricate herself, and it is Sam's turn to come to the rescue, knocking the demon about a bit and providing enough of a distraction for Glossy Blonde to bring her magic knife into play once more, plunging it right up through his neck into his mouth. It's really gruesome. More red fire blazes, and a third demon – and host human – is dead.

Sam gapes. "Who the hell are you?" he wonders, once he's caught his breath.
Glossy Blonde opts for the cliché. "I'm the girl that just saved your ass," she simpers, all sassy and flirtatious.
Sam lifts an eyebrow. "Well, I just saved yours, too," he mildly points out, and I feel like giving him a round of applause for standing up to her when she's being so annoyingly and deliberately enigmatic.
The girl smirks. "See you around, Sam."

She whisks out of the room and disappears, leaving a dismayed and confused Sam to wonder if there's anyone out there who doesn't know who he is.

That Glossy Blonde will be seen again is kind of a spoiler for future episodes, but is literally all I know about her, and honestly, it's pretty obvious that this was merely a brief introduction to someone who will play a bigger role later. If she wasn't going to appear again, her presence in this episode would be beyond pointless. I'm kind of intrigued by the concept of the character, as I understand it based on what I've seen – on paper it sounds reasonable enough in terms of setting the stage for future run-ins, and I'm curious to know where the show is going to go with her. After all, she's clearly stalking Sam. She was here for him, specifically, not for the demons, and not for anyone else. She intervened because she wanted to keep Sam alive, rather than because she was interested in joining the fight or teaming up in any way. So…what's her motivation? Could she be some kind of agent of ol' Yellow-Eyes? Possibly even a demon herself, trying to salvage what's left of the masterplan? Or, conversely, is she just a random human hunter of some kind, who has got her hands on a magical blade, takes pleasure in being as flirtatiously enigmatic as she can, and has reasons of her own for stalking Sam?

I'm interested to know more, especially since I know that the show takes great delight in including elements that only really make sense with the benefit of hindsight, but I have to admit I'm disappointed in the execution of the concept thus far. She's just…so glossy and with the posturing. Or is it horribly anti-feminist of me to respect her less because she manages to have perfect hair, clothes and make-up at the same time as slaughtering demons wholesale? But the glossy just doesn't fit with the grittiness of this universe, and the lack of human interaction other than her brief conversation with Sam, in which she was clearly angling to pique his interest rather than brush him off, makes it impossible to get a read on her, none of which helps her cause any. I think it's the way the actress has chosen or been directed to play the role, in part – over-selling it, when a subtler touch would have left a better impression of the character. The taking out of three demons at once smacks of overkill, and isn't going to endear her to anyone, since her triumph came at Sam's expense, but possibly that aspect of the scene was intended to sell the knife to us as a force to be reckoned with, rather than the girl.

Who knows? She's intended as an antagonist, from what I understand, so maybe it's all deliberate and will make more sense somewhere down the track. It's early days, and she's only been in three scenes. We'll see what happens in future episodes. I'm trying really hard to reserve judgement.

Next day. Dean and Sam quietly lay the bodies of the three knife victims in a mass grave and start pouring salt and accelerant over them. I really appreciate the quiet gravitas of this scene, their silent respect for these nameless victims, after the wanton disregard for human life shown by both Tamara and Glossy Blonde. There's no sign of Walter Rosen, but presumably they'd have to put him in there, too. This many bodies are not something they can afford to let the police get hold of, which kind of sucks for any loved ones these people are leaving behind, who will never know what happened to them.

The boys look across to where Tamara stands alone alongside Isaac's sheet-wrapped corpse, already burning atop a wooden pallet. "Think she's going to be all right?" Sam asks. He really wants to believe that things can work out all right, no matter how grim they might look right now. Needs to believe it, maybe.

"No, definitely not," Dean sombrely tells him. It's only a week since he was in Tamara's exact position of having lost the only person he had left in the world, and he was definitely not all right. It's not an experience he is ever going to forget.

A tired-looking Bobby joins the boys. "Well, you look like hell warmed over," Dean greets him.

"You try exorcising all night, see how you feel," Bobby grumbles. But he only exorcised two out of the six, right? Greed and Lust? Or did he expel Wrath from Isaac's corpse, as well, after Tamara had pinned it down? Surely Dean could have conducted Lust's exorcism himself, since he was the one tussling with her?

Sam quietly asks if there were any survivors, and Bobby says that the pretty girl and the heavy guy will make it. "Lifetime of therapy bills ahead, but still."

They make it sound like not surviving exorcisms is almost the norm. But there didn't seem to be any concern about that when Sam was exorcised, or when the brothers exorcised that airline pilot way back in Phantom Traveler. Maybe it depends on the nature of the demon? Like the more powerful the demon, the more tightly it clings on, and the more damage it does? Or maybe it does all rest on the intent of the person conducting the exorcism? I want to know why some people survive exorcism unscathed while others don't.

"That's more than you can say for these poor bastards." Dean draws their attention back to the fatalities in the grave before them, and I really like and respect that for the boys and Bobby, at least, loss of human life is not taken lightly.

Sam asks Bobby about the knife, wondering what kind of blade can kill a demon. That's an excellent question – John Winchester sure would have loved to get his hands on it. Bobby admits that just yesterday he'd have said there was no such thing, so we know that Glossy Blonde has got her hands on something incredibly rare and secret, and have only to ask ourselves how and why – and what she intends to do with it, long-term.

"I'm just gonna ask it again: who was that masked chick?" Dean teases his brother, not being one to let an opportunity like this go to waste. "Actually, the more troubling question would be: how come a girl can fight better than you?"

Heh. I suspect that is a very large part of the reason why possessive and over-protective fangirls are not likely to take to this girl any time soon.

Sam offers a tight smile, not rising to the bait. "Three demons, Dean. At once."

Bobby's quietly watching Tamara while the boys banter among themselves, which is a nice touch.

"If you want a troubling question, I got one for you," Sam continues. "If we let out the seven deadly sins, what else did we let out?"
"You're right. That is troubling," Dean admits, becoming serious once more. He lights the match, tosses it into the grave, and the flames shoot up. The three of them stand there and watch the corpses burn, silently commemorating their passing as the only thing they can now do for them.

Later. Tamara lugs a bag out to her car. "See you gents around," she quietly offers as a farewell, clearly determined not to break down again, not in public, anyway.
Bobby calls after her. "Tamara. The world just got a lot scarier. Be careful."

She nods, returns the sentiment, gets in her car, and drives away.

Got to admit, for all that the actress really hasn't impressed me, Tamara is the type of character that I wouldn't mind seeing again, if new recurring characters are going to be added. She feels like she belongs in this universe, and was introduced organically, much as Bobby was, as an active part of the storyline, rather than being shoehorned into a story that didn't involve her just for the sake of making a dramatic entrance, which was one of the major problems with the Roadhouse gang last season and a reason Glossy Blonde's scenes are a bit jarring in this episode. No hype or spectacle, just a person developing out of the storyline, a person who had actual interaction with the other characters, who now knows them and has reason to run into them again or to ask for their help in the future, hunters needing to stick together right now. A well-rounded person that both the other characters and viewers have got to know over the course of the episode; this is how recurring characters should really be developed, by involving them in this way and finding out if they work or not, rather than devising them in advance and then being stuck with them regardless.

"Keep your eyes peeled for omens. I'll do the same," Bobby tells the boys, preparing to head for his own car.

"Bobby. We can win this war, right?" Sam asks. Ah, Sam. He's grown up so much, but he still looks to others for comfort and reassurance when things get scary. Usually Dean, but Bobby makes a good substitute, since Sam is trying so hard in this episode not to burden his brother any more than he already has been all his life.

But Bobby has no comfort or reassurance to offer, and won't lie, so he says nothing for a long, long moment in which they all get a little overwhelmed by what lies before them. "Catch you on the next one," he quietly says by way of farewell.

Left alone, the brothers discuss where they should head next. Sam suggests Louisiana, all casual and nonchalant, trying not to make a big deal out of it. Dean snorts that it's a little early for Mardi Gras, and Sam has to admit that Tamara told him about a hoodoo priest just outside of Shreveport, who might be able to help them out. "You know, with your…demon deal."

Now, Dean has mentioned the deal and his death sentence several times during the course of the episode. But Sam hasn't raised the subject at all, has avoided it like the plague. This is the first time he's broached the issue, and he struggles to maintain eye contact with his brother as he says it. It's such a huge, huge thing that Dean did for him. And, while Sam is better equipped psychologically to deal with that than Dean was when John did it for him – Sam has always known that Dean would do anything for him, and has a healthy sense of his own self-worth, unlike his brother – the sheer enormity of it must feel overwhelming

Dean shrugs. "Nah."
"'Nah'?" Sam is bemused. "What does that mean, 'nah'?"
"Sam, no hoodoo spell is going to break this deal, all right?" Dean firmly tells him. "It's a goose chase."
"We don't know that, Dean," Sam protests.
"Yes, we do," insists Dean. "Forget it, she can't help."
"Look, it's worth a –" Sam begins.
"We're not going, and that's that." Dean comes over very authoritative, since flippancy hasn't worked, but then instantly swings back to flippancy once more, trying hard to keep things light. He really doesn't want to have this conversation, doesn't want to have to explain. "What about Reno…?"

Sam's not having any of it. "You know what? I've had it. I've been bending over backwards trying to be nice to you, and – I don't care any more."
"That didn't last long," Dean mildly observes, which amuses me way more than it should, because it's so very true. Sam trying to indulge Dean without question or complaint and give back a little of everything his brother has done for him over the years has lasted all of one week.

"Yeah, well, you know what? I've been busting my ass trying to keep you alive, Dean," Sam angrily retorts. "And you act like you couldn't care less. What? You got some kind of death wish, or something?"

Dean's smiling wryly to himself at the accusation, shaking his head, not looking Sam in the eye. He's not an eloquent guy. There is no way in the world he could ever hope to put into words everything he was feeling a week ago, explain why he did what he did and what it meant to him, or how he feels about it now. "It's not like that," he says, no doubt hoping that Sam will let it go at that. The death wish was last season, and culminated in the deal he made for Sam's life, which in his mind has set the natural order of things back on track. He's got new issues now. It's not about wanting to die; it's about needing Sam to live.

Sam's not letting him off the hook, though, demands to know what it is like. "Please. Tell me," he snips.

Dean stops trying to evade the issue at last, and looks his brother in the eye for a very long moment. Last season when he tried to keep a big secret from Sam, his brother reacted by running away, and then they both almost got killed. This time, he decides that honesty might just be the best policy, can't risk taking any chances whatsoever with Sam's restored life. "We trap the Crossroads Demon, trick it, try to welch our way out of the deal in any way? You die." Sam's eyes go very wide at this news, an enormous catch that he really wasn't expecting. "Okay? You die. Those are the terms, there's no way out of it. If you try to find a way, so help me God, I'm going to stop you."

Sam looks away, can't hold the eye contact. That is a very loaded statement right there. Man, how potentially amazing of an episode would it be if they went down that road, with Sam believing he'd found a solution and Dean actively sabotaging it? Because he absolutely would. He's including Sam in the same restriction the demon laid on him not to try to wriggle out of it, since anything Sam attempts would involve Dean by default. Although...he must have known Sam was already researching the subject. But clearly Sam conducting a little background reading is considered safe, whereas actively seeking out experts to enquire about possible ways around the deal takes them way too far into dangerous territory. Losing Sam again is unthinkable. Sam alive is the whole point. But how does Sam deal with the weight of that?

"How could you make that deal, Dean?" Sam whispers.
Dean shrugs. "'Cause I couldn't live with you dead," he says, very simply. "Couldn't do it."

The wording of that statement kills me, so perfect. Not 'I couldn't live without you,' which would mean something else entirely, not to mention being all kinds of sappy. It wasn't about Sam himself so much as it was about everything that Sam and his death symbolised, the culmination of a lifetime of effort, destroyed. It was about failing in the task Dean's been burdened with since childhood, when both John and Sam had hammered home again and again just how much they were relying on him to achieve the impossible. Sam's death was the ultimate end of everything he'd ever worked toward, everything he'd given up for the sake of, and he had no idea how to even begin to pick up the pieces. He doesn't even know who he is outside of the roles his father and brother have defined for him all his life. It was about despair, and guilt, and the need to set things straight, because how could Sam be gone when Dean had believed for so long that he should be dead himself? The world had been turned upside down, the wrong one left behind, when he was so worn down and exhausted by the strain of it all already, and he just couldn't do it. Dean's already narrow worldview has shrunk to a pinpoint since John's death. Sam dead was the straw that broke the camel's back. Sam alive is what gives his life meaning and makes everything worthwhile, including his own forthcoming death.

"So what? Now I live and you die?" Sam snips, pointing out the enormous double standard there. Why it would surprise him, I don't know. Dean has always been very upfront about his double standards.

"That's the general idea, yeah," Dean agrees, shooting for nonchalance once more. In his mind, if only one of them gets to live, there's no question about it – it has to be Sam, end of story. But he's never going to be able to explain the thought processes behind that belief, and skimming over the surface of the issue is the only way he can deal with it right now. It's only been a week, and the intensity of that emotion was so fierce, it must be fresh and raw still, beneath the surface.

"You're a hypocrite, Dean," Sam angrily protests. "How did you feel when Dad sold his soul for you? 'Cause I was there. I remember. You were twisted, and broken. And now you go and do the same thing. To me. What you did was selfish."

Dean looks surprised that Sam would think that was an issue. "Yeah, you're right. It was selfish. But I'm okay with that." It doesn't matter what Sam thinks of him, as long as Sam is alive to think it. Sam just isn't seeing what to Dean is the central point, which is Sam alive. How can he? Sam is on the opposite side of the divide here.
"I'm not," Sam grits.
"Tough," Dean snaps back. He's being very curt, isn't usually so insensitive to Sam when he's troubled, but in this instance he has to be, for his own protection – much like their similarly emotionally charged conversation in Everybody Loves A Clown. Can't bring himself to do any more than skim the surface of the intense emotion, that awful despair, that drove him to make that deal. "After everything I've done for this family, I think I'm entitled."

It's actually a pretty major step forward for Dean, in many respects, that he feels entitled to be a bit selfish, that he's allowing himself to make such a huge choice, to have what he wants, for himself. It's been two seasons now, and only a couple of times has Dean ever said out loud that he wanted something for himself. And the answer he's been given was 'no' each time. He never asks for anything because the experience of his life has taught him that the answer will always be no, that John's and Sam's needs and desires are more important than his. The entire course of Dean's life has been shaped by the decisions other people have made; he's spent his whole life sublimating his own needs and wishes for the sake of his family, learning to take pleasure in the here and now because it was all that was available to him. So for Dean to be the one to make this huge decision, to push his own needs to the forefront in this way, to put what he wants first for once, that's a pretty big step forward – albeit in a twisted kind of way. Because it took Sam's death for it to happen, and the choice he's making is to die so that Sam can live.

Plus, I wonder if he also maybe thinks that if Sam believes he made the deal for selfish reasons, that it was about what Dean wanted rather than about Sam, he won't feel as obligated, and therefore won't mind as much that Dean isn't letting him search for a way out.

Sam seethes. Dean holds his eyes for a moment, and then relents, lowers the emotional defences he's maintained so tightly all episode, and opens up a little in a way that would have been unthinkable a year ago. "Truth is, I'm tired, Sam. And, I don't know, it's like there's a light at the end of the tunnel."

There it is again, that I can't do this any more the Crossroads Demon taunted him with, way back when they first met. Dean seemed to get such a huge boost from the successes of All Hell Breaks Loose, from having finally and completely discharged all that responsibility that's been hanging over his head for so much of his life, from having relieved himself of the burdens that weighed on him so heavily last season. But it's not enough, apparently, not after being so badly worn down for so long.

It ties in completely with what I said at the end of my recap of All Hell Breaks Loose Part II: 'I'm not sure we've ever seen him as completely at peace with himself as he seems to be in this moment,' I wrote. 'And I can't help thinking that right now he would take his one year and go quietly at the end of it. There's a finish line in sight, and he's been so desperately tired this season, honestly doesn't believe he should be alive anyway. He was given a really, really bad deal, and he knows it, but just look at the end result: Sam is alive and well. John is finally at rest. Their lifelong enemy has been destroyed. Yeah, I think he'd go quietly and be satisfied with all of that. As of right now, he's ready to go.' One week on, he clearly still feels much the same way: ready and willing to go quietly, as long as Sam gets to live.

"It's hellfire, Dean," Sam sombrely points out, which is an excellent point. Dean might find appeal in the notion of being able to rest at last, but Sam can see clearly that there isn't going to be any rest, only eternal torment.
"Whatever." That totally isn't the point, for Dean. He can't allow himself to think about that, has to focus on the positives, because he will not regret the choice that he's made. "You're alive, I feel good – for the first time in a long time. I got a year to live, Sam. I'd like to make the most of it. So what do you say we kill some evil sons of bitches and we raise a little hell? Huh?"

That's about as much of a deep-and-meaningful as Dean can handle right now, so he ducks away to the car before Sam can think of anything else to add.

Sam wearily shakes his head. "You're unbelievable."
"Very true," Dean cheerfully retorts, snapping back to upbeat as if the entire conversation had never happened, game face firmly in place.

So off they drive off into a new season. Welcome back, boys.



October 2007

Back to top

Home