SPN Rewatch Season 8

[borgmama1of5]

Rewatch of Supernatural 2022

Season 8

So I went into season 8 with the foreknowledge that this is the season where Sam starts out very out-of-character by having not looked for Dean all year. But it’d been a long time since watching it, and I put on my rose-colored glasses determined to find the hints I’d missed that made it make sense.

Only to see that this is the season that committed character assassination on both brothers:
Sam—I found something I was missing
Dean—recites list of every mistake Sam ever made including ones he wasn’t responsible for, like being soulless
Sam—Well, then you’re better off without me
Dean—You just don’t realize what you want so I will make you want to be a hunter again by reciting the list of every mistake you ever made
Sam—Okay, I’ll do something really hard to fix it
Dean—recites list
Sam—You and the world are better off without me
Dean—Screw the world, I can’t live without my brother

It’s all written very ‘hit the viewers over the head because nuance is too subtle’ and it’s like the writers never watched the first 5 seasons at all.

At the end of the rewatch I realized I cared more about several of the guest stars than I did about Sam and Dean—in fact the only reason to watch this season again is to appreciate Kevin Tran and Benny and Garth and Charlie and Grandpa Winchester and Aaron, the kid with the golem, in their stand-alone episodes.

Sigh. So here are the individual episode thoughts. I apologize in advance for how snarky they are this time.


150. We Need to Talk About Kevin (8.01)—W: Carver/D: Singer
Road so far starts with Dean reciting ‘saving people, hunting things’ then covers season 7
1 year later in Maine
Dean managed to hang onto his gun for the year in Purgatory
Steals the campers’ bag without hesitation
4 days later in Louisiana—takes care of Benny apparently before trying to reach Sam?
Dean/Benny hug, Benny calls him brother
Sam is leaving a woman in bed in the middle of the night and someone was watching him
Dean attacks Sam with the tests and tests himself when Sam says no need—then they hug
‘You were in Purgatory?’
Dean says Cas didn’t make it: ‘I saw enough’—but won’t say he actually saw him die
Sam: ‘…I had no one. No one. And for the first time in my life I was completely alone, and honestly I didn't exactly have a road map. So, yeah, I fixed up the Impala and I just drove’—decent start to explaining why he didn’t look…
Dean: ‘Now, we always told each other not to look for each other. That's smart. Good for you. Of course, we always ignored that because of our deep, abiding love for each another, but not this time, right, Sammy?’—this is the point Dean returns to again and again without ever taking a minute to think about it from Sam’s POV. And Sam accepts being beaten up by Dean over this—he gives his side of what happened to him in little bits throughout the first half-dozen episodes so that each time he raises any kind of defense Dean can return to this point. Why on earth Sam didn’t lay it out that he quit because he couldn’t take any more losses instead of going with ‘I finally had something, Dean’—the whole schism between them was so clearly writer-manufactured to make the hard feelings last for the whole season, and it just didn’t feel like the way Sam and Dean would have handled it. Plus, why didn’t Sam just once say ‘I thought you were in heaven?’ Yeah, that wouldn’t have mollified Dean but it sure would have thrown the fans a little rational for Sam’s out-of-character behavior!
Messages from Kevin hurt and really make Sam look bad, and when he tries to make amends by jumping into the search for Kevin Dean gives him grief about that…
We see Benny save Dean in Purgatory and development of their bond
Sam explained he moved on with his life, saw weird stories and ‘the world went on…people will always die’—and Dean jumps to ‘Was there a girl?’—Sam: ‘The girl had nothing to do with it… I didn't just drop out, Dean. I found something. Something I've never had all my life’—And this explanation by Sam was written to deliberately inflict hurt on Dean and I don’t believe Sam would have worded it like that. Plus you can’t tell me what he had with Amelia meant more than Jess.
Dean about Purgatory: ‘It felt pure’—just like with last year and Hallucifer, Dean’s mental trauma gets a few episodes acknowledgement and then is pretty much ignored…
They are in suits—when did Dean have time to go shopping for such a nice-fitting one? Sam’s looks upgraded too…
And we get to see Sam frantic about hitting the dog which gives a hint that Sam was not doing well. We should have gotten more scenes of Sam falling apart, like he did when Dean went to Hell, in order to give some credence to the idea of Amelia pulling him out of his dark place.
At least we still get Smart Sam who tracks Kevin using fancy computer lingo
Smart Kevin figuring out how to put one over on Crowley to make demon bomb and get away
Dean is instantly gung-ho to use Kevin to close the gates of hell; Sam feels guilty about Kevin having to be in this life
Sam tells Kevin he didn’t see a way out of this life before, but ‘there is a way’ and we jump to the flashback of Amelia shaming him into keeping the dog (What responsible vet would force a random person to take an injured dog???) So this flashback is supposed to make us see how this was the start of Amelia saving Sam—but it does the opposite, like why on earth are we supposed to think this woman has anything to offer him (other than the fact that she treats him like crap which is the way Dean treated him a lot, so I guess we’re supposed to see her as the emotional replacement for him?)
Crowley turns up with Ruby’s knife—Meg had it driving into Sucrocorp, so Crowley got it along with her
Dean gets a call from Benny and hides it so that Sam has a reason to be pissed at Dean too
Final note—this is the season of Sam’s longest hair…

151. What’s Up, Tiger Mommy? (8.02)—W: Dabb & Loflin/D: Showalter
Recap: Dean’s return, Purgatory and Benny, Kevin and tablet
Dean is very non-understanding of Kevin’s concern for his mom which we are supposed to read as feedback from being in Purgatory
Smart Dean notices the inconsistent behavior that means the people around Mrs. Tran’s house are demons
There is zero concern for meatsuits, just stab as fast as possible
Level-up Sam does reverse exorcism which I don’t think is ever done again—and he’s avoided hunting for a year, yet this random reverse exorcism just rolls off his tongue?
Dean backs down to Mrs. Tran
Kevin and Mrs. Tran get anti-possession tattoos (smart though ultimately futile move)
Dean goes full-on Purgatory to the suspect in jail—finally something handled believably and showing us the Purgatory fall-out
Mrs. Tran coming down on the pawnshop dude like a ton of bricks about the car taxes with the help of Smart Kevin and Smart Sam calculating the amounts
Crowley refers to Moose and Squirrel for I think the first time
Mrs. Tran slugs Crowley—she is growing on me
Samandriel/Alfie: ‘there are some in Heaven that believe despite his mistakes, that Castiel's heart was always in the right place I think too much heart was always Castiel's problem’
Continuity error—Dean is shown with Ruby’s knife in Purgatory but they just got it back from Crowley in the previous episode
In Purgatory flashback Dean hugs Cas when he finds him
Dean puts a positive spin on Cas deserting him when Benny challenges Cas joining them which Cas promptly shoots down
Dean has some hacked credit cards, $2000 in cash, and a Costco card
Super Dean pickpockets the keys when he ‘accidentally’ bumps into the demon
According to Plutus Crowley doesn’t have a soul (this is conveniently forgotten by the season finale)
Dumb boys leaving Mrs. Tran alone
Mrs. Tran rejects angel help to stick with Sam and Dean
Mrs. Tran screams when her tattoo is burned off—why didn’t Sam and Dean hear it?
Super Sam wields Thor’s hammer—go Sam!!!
Crowley figured out the tablet tells how to close the gates of hell from possessing Mrs. Tran
Dumb boys leave Kevin and Mrs. Tran alone
Dean would have killed Mrs. Tran—more Purgatory fall-out
First Purgatory flashback of Cas not making it when hand holding him lets go

152. Heartache (8.03)—W: Buckner & Ross-Leming/D: Ackles!!!
Recap: Sam and Amelia, demon tablet, professor who helped with the Amazon tablet
Been looking for Kevin for a week, no luck, so Dean wants to hunt, pushes Sam
Sam: ‘I had a year off. I took the time to enjoy the good things’—nonono that is not something Sam would rub in Dean’s face…
Suits
Dean catching up on tech pretty fast, has downloaded a translation app on his phone
Writer-manufactured conflict—Dean: ‘I know where I am at my best. And that is right here, driving down crazy street, next to you’—Sam: ‘Or maybe you don't need me. Maybe you're at your best hacking and slicing your way through all the world's crap alone. Not having to explain yourself to anybody’—Dean: ‘Yeah, that makes sense. Seeing as I have so many other brothers I can talk to about this stuff’
Fictional quarterback Brick Holmes who Sam was a huge fan of as a kid…right…
Dean sees Sam has gotten an email from a university and not happy with Sam’s response: ‘I’m not talking about anything, Dean, I’m just looking at options’
When Eleanor says they must think she’s a monster for knowing what Brick was doing and ignoring it, Dean gives her a pass—huh? Not consistent with Purgatory Dean’s hardness
What happens to all the other transplant recipients when the leader is killed? There were 8 mentioned so 4 still unaccounted for
Dean on a high after case, feels like a warrior—Sam: ‘I don’t. Hell, maybe I never did…Dean, listen, when this is over… I'm done…the year that I took off, I had something I've never had. A normal life. I mean, I got to see what that felt like. I want that. I had that’—and we are supposed to believe that after 7 years of hunting with Dean, Sam has reverted to season 1 Sam who wanted normal and ditched his family to get it. You don’t just erase 7 years of character growth!
And the final scene of the episode is a flashback to Amelia giving Sam a birthday cake to show the emotional depth of that normal life he had (nope) Oh, and dog got a name: Riot

153. Bitten (8.04)—W: Thompson/D: Wright
No recap
Post-it note ‘Play me’ on computer
Suits
Boys seen from outsider perspective except at very beginning and end
Kid’s comment on boys: ‘…are you getting a workplace romance vibe from those two?’
Kids overhear boys speculate they are dealing with another Mayan god
The kids are REALLY annoying
OMG with all the videoing of everything! (Clearly this is pre-TikTok era)
Kate on tape: ‘I didn’t choose this. Please give me a chance’
Dean goes along with it (A hint that his post-Purgatory black-and-white views aren’t so cut-and-dried)
All the credits are at the end of the episode with the ending scene
The angst level of those kids made me want to smack them…

154. Blood Brother (8.05)—W: Edlund/D: Bee
Recap: Amelia and normal; Purgatory and Benny; Cas not making it; Kevin
Dean takes call outside which makes Sam suspicious
Dean who has been all about finding Kevin needs a day for ‘personal crap’—when Sam questions him—Dean: ‘What, Sam? Last I counted you took a year off from the job. I need a day’
Sam stalking Amelia on the computer
Up till now vamps haven’t seen to be stopped by much so what exactly happened to Benny that hurt him too much to heal without help?
Purgatory Cas still has angel powers
Dean makes Benny agree to travel with Cas because ‘I’m the one with the mojo’
In flashback Smart Sam now knows how to repair air conditioners and ice machines
Vampirates—oh Dean, never change
Dean takes the money from the dead vamp’s wallet
Dean uncomfortable with Benny drinking IV bag of blood in the Impala
Benny left the vampire life for a girl—parallel to Sam…
Dean starts to text Sam and erases it
Amelia flashback—she’s been at motel for 3 months
When Dean does finally talk to Sam and says he’s clearing out a vamp nest with a friend—Sam: ‘All your friends are dead!’—Nice, Sam
Sam upset that Dean is hunting alone—but he’s going to leave Dean alone after this final job with Kevin…
Dean’s cellphone breaks
Super Dean kills lots of vamp—off-screen
Leviathans in Purgatory stop Cas’ power
Amelia flashback—Dog runs into her room—Sam: ‘No, Dog, don’t bother the angry lady!’
Sam compliments Amelia’s neat stitches (that’s not weird…)
Amelia gives Sam a hard time about his clothes and that he seems to be going nowhere and Sam responds to her snark with empathy for how he’s reading her—’You have no idea where you’re going either…because you have no one’…So here we see Sam is capable of seeing through off-putting comments and reacting to the emotional underpinning. However he is incapable of doing this with Dean. That can be partly waved away as they have trouble communicating because they’re brothers, but we’ve seen in other seasons that Sam can eventually respond to what Dean can’t verbalize…but he is being really obtuse this season…
And Sam is driving frantically to get to Dean who he thinks is in serious trouble
Benny kills his maker off-screen
Dean kills Andrea—to save Benny? Purely because Andrea was a monster? To spare Benny the pain of killing her himself? Because he didn’t think Benny would or could do it??? (Dean kills Benny’s woman—what does that bode for Sam/Amelia?)
When Sam shakes Benny’s hand he knows Benny is a vampire—is that because a vamp’s hand would be inhumanly cold or what?
Sam shakes Benny’s hand and instantly reaches for his weapon, sees Dean shake his head and stops, then gives Dean a very angry look

155. Southern Comfort (8.06)—W: Glass/D: Andrew
Recap: Garth; Sam wants to quit; Amelia; Purgatory and Benny
Sam pissed: ‘You want me to shut up and ride shotgun and act like nothing happened?...He’s a vampire’—Dean: ‘He's also the reason I'm topside and not roasting on a spit in Purgatory’—Sam: ‘Don't pretend I don't get it. I know you had to do what you had to down there’—Dean: ‘I highly doubt you get anything about Purgatory’—Sam: ‘But you’re out now and Benny’s still breathing. Why?’—Dean: ‘He’s my friend’—Sam: And what about my friend Amy?...’Cause you sure as hell didn’t have a problem ganking her’—Dean: ‘Yeah, I got a vampire buddy and you turn your phone off for a year’—Why Sam doesn’t appreciate that Benny got Dean out of Purgatory? Is his guilt that he didn’t look for Dean causing him to hate that Benny saved Dean when Sam didn’t?
Arrive at scene in suits
Garth!
Garth running phones for hunters—Sam: ‘Are you the new Bobby?’—Garth: ‘Bobby was gone. You two were MIA. It was a weird time. Somebody had to step in and take up the slack’—and Garth makes no apologies for stepping into the gap when no one else did
Green ectoplasm is new—turns out it is from a spectre type of ghost who is avenging a betrayal
When Garth asks how Dean got out of Purgatory Sam makes a show of looking interested in the answer and Dean changes the subject
Garth’s backstory—he went to college and briefly was a dentist until he ganked the tooth fairy which he isn’t proud of doing
Dean pissed at Garth wearing Bobby’s hat and takes it from him
Various flashbacks in the episode to show Sam and Amelia’s relationship developing: first is Sam and Amelia in bed after sex—why is Sam wearing his t-shirt???—and she says her husband died in Afghanistan 8 months ago…then she leaves in the morning and wants to forget the whole thing because she can’t stand to be pitied…then Sam confronts her later that he doesn’t pity her: ‘…I lost my brother, Dean, a few months ago. It felt like my world imploded and came raining down on me, and... I ran. Just like you’ and they decide to trust each other and talk about their losses (Sam has these flashbacks peppered weirdly throughout working the case to the point where Garth has to call him on getting a move on)
Dean lays into Garth: ‘You’re not Bobby, Okay? You’re never gonna be Bobby, so stop!’—Garth: ‘Bobby belonged to all of us, Dean – not just you and Sam. Now, I'm just taking what he showed me and trying do something with it. That's all!’—Garth is not cowed by Dean Winchester!
Garth does Civil War reenactments
Cop gives Dean the haunted penny
Possessed Dean points gun at Sam: ‘You should have looked for me when I was in Purgatory’—Sam: ‘What do you want me to say? That I’ve made mistakes? I’ve made mistakes, Dean’—Dean: ‘Well, let's go through some of Sammy's greatest hits. Drinking demon blood, check. Being in cahoots with Ruby. Not telling me that you lost your soul. Or how about running around with Samuel for a whole year, letting me think that you were dead while you're doing all kinds of crazy. Those aren't mistakes, Sam. Those are choices!...you left me to die for a girl!’
Garth has the guts and psychology to get between Dean and Sam: ‘…he won’t kill me. His beef isn’t with me. You’re not gonna shoot me, are you, Dean?...you do not want to kill your brother. You've been protecting him your whole life. Don't stop now’—Dean: ‘He left me to rot in Purgatory!’—Garth: Maybe he did. I don't know. I wasn't there. But I'm sure he had his reasons’—Sam: ‘Just like you had your reasons for Benny’—Dean: ‘Benny has been more of a brother to me this past year than you've ever been! That's right. Cas let me down. You let me down. The only person that hasn't let me down is Benny’—Dean goes to shoot Sam and Garth punches him
Dean wants to know how Garth could safely hold the penny because everyone feels like someone’s screwed them—Garth: ‘I let all that stuff go with the help of my yogi…you can’t change the past’
Dean returns Bobby’s hat to Garth—he has seen that Garth has a lot more to him than the bumbling surface impression
When Sam goes to get in the car he tells Dean the girl’s name is Amelia Richardson and they had a place together in Kermit.
Dean: ‘I don’t even remember what I said but…’—Sam: ‘But you didn't mean it? Oh, please. You and I both know you didn't need that penny to say those things…Own up to your crap, Dean. I told you from the jump where I was coming from, why I didn't look for you. But you? You had secrets. You had Benny. And you got on your high and mighty, and you've been kicking me ever since you got back. But that's over. So move on, or I will’
Sam threatens to ice Benny
Confession—I like this episode. The argument at the beginning felt like Sam and Dean, and the penny causing Dean to spit out what he was feeling showed just where Dean is hurting: ‘you left me to die for a girl’ and everyone has let him down except Benny. Admittedly it would have been very hard for Sam to hear it but if he could have heard what Dean was saying, later he could have talked to Dean. The ‘left him to die for a girl’ isn’t actually what happened, and if Dean would have explained Benny’s role in keeping Dean alive in Purgatory, it could have mitigated some of Sam’s anger over Benny. It still would have been a painful and hard and messy series of conversations, but it would be in line with how their characters have grown since the beginning. But instead Sam, on the defensive about Amelia, goes on the offensive about Benny. Which I am unhappily willing to accept as Sam being too hurt to hear Dean. The other reason I like this episode is Garth. Despite throwing in bits to play up his seeming cluelessness and lack of finesse, he holds his own against Dean without needing to resort to snark and that makes him truly unique and honestly so much more emotionally healthy than any other hunter we’ve seen that he totally deserves respect.

156. A Little Slice of Heaven (8.07)—W: Buckner & Ross-Leming/D: Carner
Recap: Kevin, tablet, Mrs. Tran, Samandriel/Alfie
Dean sees Cas while driving, doesn’t tell Sam
Torture scenes are very hard to watch
Dean spooked at seeing Cas again, does tell Sam who tries to help him deal by saying Dean probably has survivor’s guilt
People are disappearing world-wide, not just in US (for a change)
Cas shows up and Dean immediately needs to know how he got out
How did Cas find them? The Enochian on their ribs used to prevent Cas from finding them…just ignore annoying continuity…
Cas points out all the missing people are future prophets and they figure that, since there is only one active prophet at a time, Kevin must have been activated when Chuck died (Hmm, Kevin was activated when the Leviathan tablet was uncovered, which would mean that Chuck decided he was done playing the prophet role right then)
Crowley cuts off Kevin’s finger…fortunately at the end of the episode Sam tells Kevin Cas thinks he can fix it
Metatron is identified as an archangel (which is changed when we do meet him and he says he is just an angel)
The demon tablet gets broken and Crowley gets away with half
We see the Purgatory escape flashback several times throughout the episode and finally find out Cas let go on purpose because he felt he needed to remain there in penance
Cas: ‘You can’t save everyone’
And let’s introduce another obnoxious power-mad angel, one who has mind-control over Cas
Minor observation: One thing I wanted to catch during my rewatch was when did Dean go from being clean-shaven to all-the-time scruffy, and it starts here. He does go clean-shaven periodically through the season but there are more continuous instances of scruff by the end of it. Sam also goes scruffy in this season but more in line with reacting to the trials and generally not looking healthy.

157. Hunter Heroici (8.08)—W: Dabb/D: Edwards
Recap: Sam and Amelia; Cas is back; Naomi
Cas has turned off angel radio because he doesn’t want to associate with heaven
Cas asks to ride shotgun—‘No’ in unison
Amelia flashback—Sam found a house for them and they have moved in together
Suits
Suicide victim lost everything when Roman Enterprises tanked last year
Cas doesn’t understand cartoons
Cas can hear police band radio
Amelia flashback— meet her dad who thinks Sam has the look of someone who served and who is running from something; when Sam is washing dishes he stops to press the scar on his hand like he did when checking reality against Hallucifer last year
Hunter Fred Jones gave Dean his first beer before Dean was 10, also Sam
Fred was hunter with strong psychic powers…gosh, remember in the early seasons when Sam’s psychic powers were freaking everyone out? No? Neither do the writers…
Amelia flashback— Sam tells Amelia’s dad that the Impala was his dad’s—wow, he didn’t say it was his brother’s
Sam to Fred but really to himself: Look, it can be nice living in a dream world. It can be great. I know that. And you can hide, and you can pretend... all the crap out there doesn't exist, but you can't do it forever because... eventually, whatever it is you're running from – it'll find you. It'll come along, and it'll punch you in the gut. And then... then you got to wake up, because if you don't, then trying to keep that dream alive will destroy you! It'll destroy everything!
Amelia flashback—Amelia’s dad to her: ‘You are living in a dream world’—Amelia: ‘I like it here…I like Sam’—Dad: ‘Sam is a mess’—Amelia: ‘I’m a mess. Please let us be messes together’—(later) Sam to her dad: ‘I lost him (Dean) and I ran’
And Amelia’s husband Don is alive
This was a ‘high concept’ episode where the writers wanted to put the boys in a cartoon environment and they paired that imaginary world with Sam’s illusion of normal with Amelia—they were trying to sell Sam’s not looking for Dean, but this set of flashbacks needed ones that showed a real relationship between Sam and Amelia, some day-to-day life

158. Citizen Fang (8.09)—W: Loflin/D: Copus
Recap: Martin; Amelia’s husband is alive; Benny
Sam tells Dean he has Martin tracking Benny, Dean pissed Sam did that but: ‘If Benny's in Louisiana draining folks we should look into it’—Dean still respecting Sam
Dean to Martin: ‘Did you actually see Benny kill the guy or not?’—Martin: ‘I saw enough’
When Dean asks for some time to check the facts Sam agrees to give him a couple hours over Martin’s vehement protests—Sam still respecting Dean
Sam to Martin about Dean and Benny: ‘Sometimes it’s not easy to see things for what they are’—And we go straight to Amelia flashback—She doesn’t know what to do—Sam: ‘He's your husband, Amelia. But I don't want to do the right thing. I mean, this is the right thing, you and me. And maybe I'm going to hell for saying this, but I'm not ready to give this up’
Elizabeth is Benny’s great-granddaughter, which Dean later mentions in front of Martin
Dean, Sam, and Martin argue over Benny—Sam: ‘You asked for some time and now there’s another dead body. Are we just going on trust here?’—Dean: ‘…one thing I can say about Benny, he has never let me down’—Sam: ‘…Must feel great finally finding someone you can trust after all these years’—and here is where Dean hurts Sam in a way that festers for the rest of the season
Martin slugs Dean and then rags on how John would have been horrified at his sons for even considering letting a vampire live, and Sam has had it with him—he is still conflicted about whether or not to trust Dean but Martin forced his hand—I think otherwise he and Dean would have argued some more and Dean would probably have gotten Sam to back down, maybe come up with a compromise
Flashback to Don meeting Sam at a bar—Don is a decent guy: ‘But the only one that knows what's best for Amelia is Amelia. So when all of this is said and done and she's made her decision, I'll respect it. And if you truly love her, you'll do the same’
Dean warns Benny: ‘Do not underestimate my little brother, okay?’
Sam gets (fake) emergency text from Amelia and takes off on Martin—he takes Martin’s car
Flashback to Sam packing to leave Amelia (funny, in the premiere he left her in the middle of the night…oh well): ‘I’m just trying to do the right thing here…I know that you and Don deserve a chance, okay? And... I think you know that, too. Just give him a chance – like you gave me. I mean Amelia, you saved me’—So much for letting her make her own decision—like Dean did with Lisa, Sam decides he knows what’s best for another person and co-opts their agency
Dean tells Martin there was another vamp and warns him to stay away from Benny
Martin found Elizabeth’s picture and figures out she’s Benny’s granddaughter; he threatens her to get Benny to return
Martin not only has to kill Benny, he has to destroy Elizabeth’s affection for him—in his rightousness he is willing to kill an innocent
Benny controls vamping out and puts his head on the counter for Martin
Great storytelling here—we see Elizabeth bloody and know something happened but there is extended suspense over what happened to Benny
Don’t feel bad for Martin, he deserved it, but poor Elizabeth
Sam looks in Amelia’s window, sees there’s nothing wrong
Sam calls the number from fake Amelia text and one of Dean’s phones rings—I don’t quite understand how that all works but handwave…
When Dean says Martin was casualty but had it coming Sam hangs up
And Amelia shows up
Okay, accepting the fact that Sam and Dean have been at odds all season over something that should have been straightened out right away, this is a really good episode. The emotional arcs make sense and the Martin/Benny plot is compelling

159. Torn and Frayed (8.10)—W: Klein/D: Singer
Road so far recaps season so far
Dean travels to Kermit to try to justify the fake text—Sam: ‘…to be afraid that what happened to Jessica… You save a vampire by making me believe that the woman I love might be dead?’ —Dean: ‘What do you want to hear, Sam? That I was wrong? Fine. I was wrong. Okay? But if you'd have just heard me out, if you'd have trusted me, all of this could have been avoided’—Sam: ‘You didn’t want me to trust you, you wanted me to trust Benny and I can’t do that’
Sam gives Dean ultimatum to be done with Benny and Dean leaves
Cas asks Dean for help finding Samandriel/Alfie
Dean brushes off Cas asking where’s Sam
Amelia can’t make up her mind, they sleep together (This time Sam takes his t-shirt off), she comes up with plan for 2 days from now: ‘One of us will be here, and we'll know. Neither of us will be here... and we'll know. Or both of us will be here... and we'll know’
Cas wants to get Sam for the rescue, Dean says don’t
Benny calls Dean for support, Dean says he’ll come after finishing case
Kevin: ‘I can't enjoy a world I need to save, Dean. I can enjoy it when this is all over with’
Cas finds Sam on park bench (guess those Enochian rib sigils wore off…) and brings him along to help with rescue, Dean says they don’t need him—Cas: ‘I need both of you, as you say, to stow your crap. Can you do that?’
Cas gives Sam his angel blade (trying to remember—are angel blades still a rare commodity at this point?)
Angel tablet. Just what we (don’t) need in the plot
Cas falls apart during rescue, having flashbacks to Naomi
Cas kills Samandriel
Both boys think something is off with Cas, put angel warding on cabin
Dean tells Sam to go back to his girl: ‘I’m just tired of all the fighting…maybe I’m a little bit jealous. I could never separate myself from the job like you could. Hell, maybe it’s time for at least one of us to be happy’—and now that Sam has permission to go he waffles: ‘She does make me happy, and she could be waiting for me if I went back…But now with everything staring down at us, with all that's left to be done...I don't know’—Dean: ‘Whatever you decide, decide. Both feet in or both feet out. Anything in between is what gets you dead’
While Sam takes a walk, Dean calls Benny and ‘ends it’ but is clearly distressed at having to do it
Amelia shows up at the motel but Sam is not there
Dean is watching TV, Sam comes over and gives him a bear and a bowl of food, sits down and they drink
The silence between them is painful
You may notice I basically skipped the case, I really don’t care about the angels. I did appreciate the way the boys’ relationship was played out this episode. And I find it significant that Dean told Benny they were done before he knew whether Sam was staying or not. The ending scene was perfect.

160. LARP and the Real Girl (8.11)—W: Thompson/D: Szwarc
Recap: Charlie; Dean and Sam fighting; goodbye to Benny and to Amelia
Side note—Dean is definitely scruffy this episode
Garth is tracking the boys to assign cases
Dean wants to take a night off—Sam: ‘Working a case…that’ll be our fun’
Suits with overcoats
LARPer calls them out on fake FBI badges and cheap suits
Dean gives Charlie strategic advice for the battle
Dean wants Charlie to leave, Sam says they need her—Charlie: ‘I am tired of running. I like my life here. I’m gonna stay and fight for it’
Sam: ‘…Belladonna’—Dean and Charlie: ‘The porn star?’
Dean tells Charlie what’s been going on between him and Sam—Charlie: ‘You sent Sam a phantom text from his ex? Dick move, Sir’—Dean: ‘Yeah, not my finest hour…this life, you can’t afford attachments. You just got to let go’—Charlie: ‘Are we still talking about Sam or did you break up with someone too?’
Dean cuts through the LARPing by shooting his gun and terrifying everyone
Convenient the fairy takes Boltar back with her for judgment…
Dean to Sam: ‘So, what's, uh... what's next? 'Cause no fun, right?...I get it. No amount of fun is gonna help you get over what you gave up. You just…need time, right?’—Sam: ‘Thanks. And you’re right. Having fun won’t help me. It’ll help both of us’
End card: This episode is dedicated to the men, women, elves, demigods, magi, druids and chamber pot servants who gave their lives fighting and winning for the Queen of Moons in the Battle of the Kingdoms. Go bravely into the next world, fallen soldiers. (Narrated by Bob Singer LOL!)
This episode was a terrific stand-alone and also was the perfect vehicle for starting the mending between the boys.

160. As Time Goes By (8.12)—W: Glass/D: Ladouceur
Recap: ‘Saving people, hunting things’—John and Mary, Cupid saying they had to be, flashes of early cases
1958 Henry says goodnight and plays music box for John (The theme from the movie ‘Casablanca’ seems an odd choice for a little boy’s music box…)
For a cerebral type, Henry has some unexpected skills like handcuffing Sam and Dean when they try to cuff him and breaking the Impala’s window in one blow (was he going to hotwire her???) and later he breaks into the trunk off-screen
Abaddon uses demon smoke to read minds—that’s a new twist
Henry: ‘If you could just take me to John, we could clear all this up…’—Dean: ‘…he’s dead’—Henry’s face
Just like when Dean was faced with Adam being family, he is hostile to Henry, won’t shake his hand when offered
Henry is smug, Dean enjoys taking him down a peg: ‘…demons can’t be killed by run-of-the-mill cutlery…you’d need an ancient demon-killing knife of the Kurds’—Dean: ‘That’s what this is’
Sam: ‘Our father taught us to be hunters’—Henry: ‘…Hunters are apes. You’re…legacies’
John’s journal is the one Henry sent away for and never got to use—seems like a bit of a stretch to me that John hung onto it from the time he was 6 to start using it when he started hunting in his thirties
Henry: ‘You boys ever exhume a body?’
Dean recognizes what Henry’s whistling because John used to whistle it—Henry: ‘Your father saw "Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy" at the drive-in one night. It scared the beeswax out of him. So I got him this little music box that played that song to help him sleep at night’
Henry starts to figure out he doesn’t return to 1958 and asks what John though happened to him—Dean: ‘He thought you ran out on him…Surviving a lonely childhood, a stinking war...only to get married and have his wife taken by a demon...and later killed by one himself. That man got a bum rap around every turn. But you know what? He kept going. And in the end, he did a hell of a lot more good than he did bad’ (Nobody can badmouth John except Dean!)
Dean upset on John’s behalf that Henry chose being a legacy over caring for his son
Boys sleep in clothes
Henry uses magic to put the shopkeeper to sleep
Henry wants to go back in time and fix things so he’s there for John because reading John’s journal made him see he let John down: ‘…just like you said’—Dean: ‘Well I was wrong’—he doesn’t think Henry should risk trying to change the past
The last Man of Letters gives Sam a location and tells him to lose the key there to keep the knowledge away from Abaddon
Sam tries to bluff Abaddon that Henry is dead
Abaddon wants to trade Sam for Henry and the key—Dean: ‘If there's a chance that I can save him, I'm gonna do it. He's my brother. He's the only family I got’
At some point in the approximately 36 hours that have passed, Dean had time to replace the Impala’s broken window…
Another fake-out where we see Dean and Henry snipe at each other while making the deal with Abaddon and Henry getting gutted—then we flashback to Dean and Henry making a plan in the car
Devil’s trap bullets!
Sam: ‘…we are legacies, right?’
You were only around for a little while but you made a big impression, Henry
Good episode and it sets up a lot of the future without too much retconning of John’s story (other than the line ‘Say hello to your old man for me’ back in 4.03 ‘In the Beginning’ which was the first John and Mary flashback—maybe it refers to John’s stepfather??? And John’s reference that he’s from a family of mechanics—must be on his mother’s side)

161. Everybody Hates Hitler (8.13)—W: Edlund/D: Sgriccia
Recap is of the previous episode
1944—something destroys Nazi camp
Boys first find the Men of Letters bunker—nice sense of their awe—Sam when he sees the library, very respectfully: ‘Son of a bitch’—I suspect that is the only time he says it (hasn’t up till now)
Sam questions how they have water and electricity—Dean supplies the handwave for the fans: ‘…well, I am putting that under the "ain't broke" column’
Sam takes MOL seriously right away
Dean’s dead man’s robe
2 weeks later Dean is returning from seeing Kevin, Cas is still MIA
Suits
Guy at bar (Aaron) flirts with Dean, Dean is flustered
Sam says ‘…something stuck to my shoe’ to let Dean know Sam’s being followed
Dean has parked the Impala and hides to watch—Sam goes to the trunk and drops his keys—so Sam has his own set of car keys now
Smart Sam recognizes library call numbers
Fortunately killing the Thule reverses the poisoning spell—that was convenient
Boys warming hands over fire burning the corpse—Aaron: ‘Oh my god, these guys are psychopaths!’
Dean calls Garth to see if he has any info that might help
Great timing between Aaron and boys, great shooting by boys to get out of the situation
Back at bunker Sam is making entry into MOL records—Dean: ‘you’re a man of letters now?’—Dean starts to pull 2 beers out, puts them back and pours scotch into MOL crystal tumblers, sets one by Sam, puts his feet up on the table to drink his
What a perfect final shot, boys working together, a successful hunt, lots of new possibilities on the horizon—this could have been the final shot of the show either right then or 7 years later, and everyone would have been happy…
A very engaging guest character, Aaron really changed from his brief association with the boys and the case was intriguing…episodes like this are what keep me hanging in there even when the overall season sucks

163. Trial and Error (8.14)—W: Dabb/D: Parks
Recap: Crossroads deals, hellhounds, finding the bunker
Dean is nesting—his room has his weapons displayed on the walls, vinyl album collection, Mary’s picture, and his memory foam mattress (do I want to ask how he got it to the bunker? No, I won’t ask…)
Sam mocks Dean’s efforts
Dean serves Sam a fancy burger—Dean: ‘We have a real kitchen now’—Sam: ‘I just didn’t think you knew what a kitchen was’—Sam’s reaction to the burger: ‘Wow’ and when they have to run off right away Sam grabs the burger to take with
Kevin is living on hot dogs—guess he’s not a vegetarian any more
Sam tries to get Kevin to slow down, not burn himself out while Dean encourages Kevin to keep gong without a break
Dean is ready to go: ‘Hey, if this means icing all demons, I got no problem gutting some devil dog and letting Calgon take me away’
When the plan to kill a hellhound looks like it went south, Dean wants to go to a crossroads, Sam pulls him back that it would be suicide and says he thinks someone else made a deal too—Dean: ‘And you want to scope ‘em out?’—Sam: ‘I want to kill a hellhound and not die’
Glasses scorched in holy oil will let them see hellhounds
Ellie hits on Dean and he turns her down
Dean decides on the plan of action: ‘I need you to be safe, Sam, okay? That's what I need…We both know where this ends, one of us dies...Or worse’—Sam: ‘…you just up and decided it's gonna be you?’—Dean: ‘I'm a grunt, Sam. You're not…You see a light at the end of this ugly-ass tunnel. I don't. But I tell you what I do know – it's that I'm gonna die with a gun in my hand. 'Cause that's what I have waiting for me – that's all I have waiting for me. I want you to get out. I want you to have a life – become a man of Letters, whatever. You, with a wife and kids and grandkids…that is my perfect ending, and it's the only one that I'm gonna get. So I'm gonna do these trials. I'm gonna do them alone, end of story. You're staying here’ (Other than it was a machete in his hand, not a gun, Dean called it, didn’t he…)
Ellie: ‘I did it for my mom, Dean. What would you do for your mom?’
Throughout the episode it seems like everyone hears the hellhounds even though only the damned are supposed to…
And Sam ices the hellhound, setting the rest of the season and angst between the boys in place…
Sam’s t-shirt is soaked with hellhound blood but his neck and face are perfectly clean—I get that he wiped it off but to have done such a perfectly demarcated job??? Not even a couple of smears he missed???
Dean wants to find another hellhound and do the job—Sam: ‘I’m closing the gates. It’s a suicide mission for you…I want to slam hell shut too, okay? But I want to survive it. I want to live, and so should you. You have friends up here, family. I mean, hell, you even got your own room now. You were right, okay? I see light at the end of this tunnel. And I'm sorry you don't – I am. But it's there. And if you come with me, I can take you to it…You’re not a grunt, Dean. You’re a genius…you’re the best damn hunter I have ever seen, better than me, better than dad. I believe in you, Dean, so please believe in me too’
Dean’s face when Sam says he’s okay
I wonder what ever happened to Ellie? They just sent her off with some hex bags and instructions to keep moving…

164. Man’s Best Friend with Benefits (8.15)—W: Buckner & Ross-Leming/D: Showalter
Recap: Witches; Sam will do the trials
James saved the boys’ lives when they were hunting a lunatic alchemist
New drinking game: every time Dean asks Sam ‘Are you okay’ for the rest of this season take a drink…
Sam says he’s good—Dean: ‘You sure?...there is a minefield of who knows what crap ahead’—great pep talk
Sam tries to preemptively calm Dean down over a dog being in their room…only when he opens the door it’s a woman…
Portia says Dean doesn’t like dogs (well, clearly that changes by season 15)
They are going to use Bobby’s witch-killing spell that didn’t work on the Starks because the chicken feet weren’t cold
Discussing the spell—Sam: ‘Concerned about the witch-killing spell or that I’m gonna mess these trials up?—Dean: ‘It’ll be too late for me to jump in’—Sam: ‘Maybe I’ll actually pull this one off’—C’mon writers, do you remember Sam putting Lucifer in the Cage a few years ago?
Sam: ‘I've been going over this and over this, asking myself "why doesn't he trust me?" And it occurred to me, finally. It's not that you don't trust me. It's that you can only trust you’
Dean sneezes around cats
We get Portia and chained-up James having sex. Why would we care about that?
Oh, let’s get Dean all twisted up about Portia and James’ sex life…sigh
When James does his farseeing thing his eyeballs go white—they kept that for Rowena’s spells
So the whole evil plot was spawned by jealousy over a beautiful woman…sigh
Actual reference to what both boys have suffered through! When they relive their worst memories we see glimpses of Sam falling into the cage, Mary burning, Sam burning in hell, Dean chained in hell
When the witch’s hold falters they work seamlessly to set the spell
Spell actually kills the witch!
Dean ready to acknowledge he will support Sam: ‘I realize that the only way we've made it through it all is by hanging together. I trust you, Sammy. With this deal, locking those sons of bitches up in the furnace once and for all, it's too important not to. So if you say you're good... ...then that's it. I'm with you 100%’
And of course then Sam coughs up blood and hides it
This mess is what happens when writers say something like ‘wouldn’t it be cool to have a character who’s a woman and a dog? And she has sex?’ and then slap some plot together to cover it. James is one of the most boring guest characters we ever get and the only part of the entire episode worth acknowledging is that they showed the boys having flashbacks to their worst moments (though are we ever told that Dean actually witnessed Mary burning? Because I thought he didn’t see it. They should have used Sam dying in Cold Oak)

165. Remember the Titans (8.16)—W: Loflin/D: Boyum
Recap—trials
Sam is hiding that he’s coughing up blood, of course Dean knows he’s hiding something…here we go again…
Kevin’s been working on trial #2 for 3 weeks
Wearing very nice suits
The cop believes in zombies and they have to cool his enthusiasm
Sam: ‘We need to think. Dean, what do we know of that has Jason Bourne fighting skills, dies a lot, and has a history with violent women?’—Dean: ‘I don’t know? You?’—Nice, Dean
Smart Sam figures out it’s Prometheus
Just bring some random strangers to the bunker, okay…
Dean: ‘So, the way we usually handle this is we summon the bastard and we work him over until he undoes whatever it is he did’—an adequate summary…
Dean: ‘…the Men of Letters translated his journal…It’s a secret society. This is actually their lair. We’re legacies’—and sadly no one is impressed
Fulgurite—Dean: ‘The last time we needed it we stole it from a one-percenter’—Hayley: ‘You do know that fulgurite is available in crystal shops all over, right?...The new age people, they use it to make cheap jewelry’
Prometheus dug the grave with Sam all night—how come he didn’t die during that time?
Because they’ve been flippant with Hayley all along she doesn’t understand when they start to walk away from Zeus and she breaks the trap thinking that will make Zeus save her son…
Smart Sam psychs out Artemis into switching sides
Prometheus gets a hunter’s funeral
That was one somber little boy
Sam confesses he is having difficulty: ‘I'm starting to think maybe I was being naive… When I said that I could just will myself into coming out of these trials unscathed’—Dean: ‘No, no, no. Stop with the sullen emo crap, all right? That's – you're not gonna die like Prometheus…You promised to live a long, Clark Griswold life…You’re not welshing on that deal, not on my watch. If you die it’s gonna be because of something normal’—so instead of listening to what Sam’s saying Dean has to shut him down (and then he’s surprised that Sam stops telling him he’s feeling awful)
Dean prays to Cas: ‘…this is about Sam, so I need you to hear me…I don't know what's ahead or what it's gonna bring for Sam. Now, he's covering pretty good, but I know that he is hurting, and this one was supposed to be on me. So…I'm asking you...you keep a lookout for my little brother…’
This is how you write a guest character that fans care about, and though the mom screwed everything up I could see where she was coming from. The case was a cool one. But now we start the back-and-forth about Sam surviving the trials…sigh

166. Goodbye Stranger (8.17)—W: Thompson/D: Wright
Recap: Meg; Naomi; angel and demon tablets; trials
Opening of Cas killing Dean is a shock…and then we see a room full of dead Deans…
Actually see boys sorting through MOL boxes and drawers
Dean finds vintage Busty Asian Beauties magazine
Suits (Sam has a pretty lavender tie)
Impressive fight scene
Cas is single-minded and cold—but he pleads with Naomi not to have to kill Meg
Meg saw where Lucifer’s crypts were when she was with Azazel
Lucifer had the angel tablet and hid it
Boys did an incredibly fast clothes change from suits to flannels…
The painful Meg and Cas flirtation
Dean calls them ‘Megstiel’
Crowley has an angel blade—from Samandriel?
Dean says Sam has to stay outside with Meg because: ‘…you’re not fine. You haven’t been fine since the first trial’
Boys say ‘Shut up, Meg’ in sync
Helpful Cas: ‘You’re damaged in ways even I can’t heal. Dean’s right…’
Continuity! Meg talks about knowing Sam from when she possessed him: ‘Deep down, in parts you never let see the light of day, you want to live a long, normal life away from creepy old things like me’
Sam tells Meg about his past year off-screen…why is Meg suddenly Sam’s BFF?
Cas points out the angel tablet chest and Dean picks it up and moves it to another table before opening it—The point of that was???
Cas brutally beats up Dean while trying to convince Naomi not to make him do it
Dean somehow still has faith in Cas: ‘Cas, fight this! This is not you!’—Cas breaks Dean’s arm—Dean: ‘Take it but you’re gonna have to kill me first…Cas, this isn’t you…We’re family. We need you. I need you’
Naomi: ‘You have to choose Castiel, us or them’
Cas drops the angel blade and picks up the tablet—white light
Cas heals Dean, tells him off-screen about Naomi, and leaves with the tablet
Meg tells Sam to save his brother and ‘my unicorn’ and fights Crowley so Sam can escape
Meg stabs Crowley with angel blade but he kills her as Sam and Dean drive away
Crowley spars with Naomi, references their time in Mesopotamia—except he was a Scottish tailor in the 17th century…
Sam: ‘I just wanted to believe I was ok’—Dean: ‘…you heard what Cas said, that that first trial hurt you in ways that even he can't heal…I need you to be honest with me from here on out…I may not be able to carry the burden that comes along with these trials, But I can carry you’
We get aerial shot of Cas’ bus and the trees are all bare as in autumn…I remember when the episode aired thinking that it was becoming spring and there should have been some green in there…
I can’t think of anything positive to say about this episode. It was painful. I really don’t care about the angels and their tablet, I don’t find Megstiel plausible, I hated Cas beating Dean so horribly and then stopping with the magic words ‘I need you,’ the fact that Dean can forgive Cas even while Cas is beating him to death but can’t forgive Sam not looking for Dean—and Sam and Dean are ignoring the almost-certainty that Sam won’t survive the trials because the writers need them to go back and forth about it for drama.

167. Freaks and Geeks (8.17)—W: Glass/D: Showalter
Recap: Vamp lore, Krissy
Driving in suits
Dean sees Krissy on cops’ videotape and commandeers the tape, shuts the investigation down under FBI authority
Dean pulls Krissy aside to talk to her privately (he’s done that for Sam too—he usually doesn’t chew people out in front of others)
Dean: ‘Hunting isn’t all about killing and revenge’
Boys met hunter Victor Rogers in Spokane, hunting a rugaru
Victor: ‘…the next generation of hunters has to be better’—he then disses Martin, Garth, and Bobby
Dean doesn’t think kids should be raised as hunters—Sam: ‘They got a pretty good life…maybe they can hunt and have a real life’
Victor asks Sam if he wants kids—Sam: ‘Uh, I don’t know’
Dean changed out of suit into flannels before going to cabin
Dean knocks gun out of Aiden’s hand
Dean presses the kids about killing an innocent, hunting is not about revenge
Victor references ‘Leviathan fiasco’
Dean as Krissy is holding gun on Victor: ‘We don’t kill people. You don’t kill people’
Very convenient that Victor kills himself…
Krissy won’t look for hunts, but if any monsters show up…
Dean sees that Krissy deserves to make her own choice, but he will have Garth check in on them
Aiden: ‘I know. You’ll kill me if I ever hurt her’—Dean: ‘No, no, no, she’ll kill you’
Dean: ‘…if we shut that hell hole once and for and all, those three can have a real life’
Another good episode because I cared about Dean caring about these kids, and the plot, though convoluted, kept me guessing but ultimately made sense. Though there are an awful lot of hunters willing to do awful things because they are righteous…

168. Taxi Driver (8.19)—W: Buckner & Ross-Leming/D: Bee
Before I say anything else, I have to say this episode infuriates me by how it destroyed canon, making Sam and Dean’s struggles over Dean’s hell deal pointless. The only more egregious destruction of Supernatural’s backstory is the revision of God’s story in the final season
Recap: Naomi, Benny, trials
Kevin hears Crowley in a nightmare
Boys torture a crossroads demon to find out how to get into hell, and by golly, all you have to do is use some holy water to get a demon to tell you that all you need is a rogue reaper…Gosh, why didn’t Sam just do that to rescue Dean from hell back in season 4???
Ajay says he was the reaper who took Bobby to hell…either he swiped Bobby’s soul from the reaper who was with Bobby when he died, or it’s the same reaper in a different vessel (remember, we find out in a future season that reapers are actually angels!) with a very different attitude
And he’s a very reasonable reaper, will help them so that they owe him one…
A reaper can ease you in and out of Purgatory, too—that would have been handy knowledge for Sam at the end of last season…and, wow, if only Crowley had known back when he was torturing alphas to get into Purgatory that all he needed to do was ask a reaper…
Dean’s hanging with Kevin who is having a mental breakdown (and steals Dean’s pie); Dean doesn’t believe Kevin is really hearing Crowley
That must be one very long angel blade Crowley uses to stab Ajay through the entire seat of the car and still come 6 inches out his chest…
Sam fights ONE monster in scary Purgatory on his way to the doorway to hell…
Looks like Crowley returned hell to its traditional form of torment, dark and dank cells with torture instead of an endless line…
How incredibly fortunate that the hell door opens on the corridor that Bobby’s in!
Continuity! Gasp! Sam refers to Bobby’s love of Tory Spelling and pedicures that we learned about in the past!
Bobby’s torture was seeing ‘endless Sams and Deans all wearing the same black eyes’
Kevin ducks out on Dean and hides the half of the demon tablet (Not too sharp there, Dean, if you didn’t hear the kid sneaking out…)
Naomi tries to manipulate Dean without success
Sam and Bobby run into two whole demons on the way out—hell must be short-staffed…
Sam! You left the hell door open!!!!!!!
Dean calls Benny to ask a favor: ‘Wow, when Dean Winchester asks for a favor, he’s not screwing around’
The conversation between Dean and Benny is the only worthwhile thing in the entire episode—Dean’s distress at having to kill Benny to save Sam is so clear, and Benny is remarkably cool about doing it…he does say he is having some adjustment issues
Dean intends for Sam to bring Benny back, though
Dean and Benny hug, Dean’s face really shows how he’s hurting at doing this
Bobby lays into Sam for not looking for Dean: ‘I know that agreement. I taught you that agreement. That's a non-agreement’
Oh wow—a second Purgatory attack! What a scary place!
Bobby takes issue with Sam saying Benny is a friend of Dean’s: ‘A frigging vampire? Well, you two really went off the rails while I was gone, didn't you?’
Sam is prepared to take Benny through the portal but Benny sends Sam out and goes to fight the vampires that just showed up
Just how fast did Dean drive to get from Kansas to Maine?
Boys hug
Naomi does one useful thing: getting Bobby’s soul away from Crowley
Sam collapses after saying the spell and of course Dean freaks
Crowley kidnaps Kevin, says he got Kevin’s location from his mom and killed her
Everything of Kevin’s is gone when boys get to the houseboat, so figure he made a run for it
I cannot say anything more about this travesty

169. Pac-Man Fever (8.20)—W: Thompson/D: Singer
Recap: SPN books, Charlie, 2nd trial, Kevin gone
Dean wakes up wearing a medical coat over a spiffy uniform (man, they like to dress him up, don’t they???)
Smart Dean breaks off a table leg for a weapon before venturing out
He’s in 1951
24 hours earlier
Boys in bunker, Sam looks like crap, misses the beer Dean tosses him
Smart Dean has hacked into cameras around Garth’s boat and Mrs. Tran’s home
Dean tests Sam on the shooting range when Sam says he’s good enough to hunt—Sam completely misses the target
Bunker shorts out their cell phone signals so they can only be traced to an area with a 20-mile radius—nice explanation
Charlie calls with a case; she has used the Carver Edlund books to learn about hunting
When Dean tests Charlie on the shooting range she immediately nails 2 headshots
Charlie clothes montage—what was the purpose of that?
Dean in suit (Sam wears one later)
Dean borrows Charlie’s phone, we later find out he did that to turn on her GPS
Charlie holds her FBI badge upside-down, now a running gag for newbies hunting with the boys
The coroner insists on paperwork—first time that’s ever happened LOL
Sam shows up and Dean is upset, drives off without Charlie
However Sam had ‘borrowed’ Charlie’s car and they beat him to the morgue
Boys think that Charlie seems off
Dean tracks down patient Mrs. Middleton who has been in a coma for 16 years and figures out she’s Charlie’s mother (the amount of information that nurse provided goes way against HIPAA regulations…)
They have dreamroot in trunk
Sam punches Dean to knock him out
Dean and Charlie are in a game she hacked when she was 12
Dean sees Sam in the game as a patient
Smart Dean: ‘This poison, it's designed to put your mind into an endless cycle, while your insides turn to mush, okay, and its fuel is fear. Now call me crazy, but I think the only way to break the cycle is to let go of the fear and stop playing the game…you're not afraid of those super-soldier vamps out there…You're afraid of losing her’
Charlie blames herself for calling her parents to pick her up from a sleep-over when she was 12, they shouldn’t have been driving
Even sick, Sam defeats the djinn
Charlie sobbing in Dean’s arms when she wakes up…
Charlie gives the boys a pep talk: ‘You know you're gonna be okay, right? Those books portray you as like, one tough customer. If anyone can get through the trials, Sam, it's you’
Sam starts to justify going out on the case, Dean pulls him into a hug
Not gonna lie, this episode made me cry for Charlie…excellent episode!

170. The Great Escapist (8.21)—W: Edlund/D: McNeill
Recap: Cas and angel tablet, Naomi, trials, Crowley and Kevin, sick Sam
Kevin is still on the boat? And ‘Sam and Dean’ give him the other half of the demon tablet
Have to admit Crowley’s plan to make Kevin think nothing’s changed is very clever, and wow, is he really getting into being a director…
Dean makes John’s ‘kitchen sink stew’ with lots of cayenne for Sam
Dean thinks he can get Sam healthy—Sam: ‘This isn’t a cold. Or a fever…This is part of it all. Those first 2 trials…they’re doing something to me’—will one of them acknowledge the trials are going to kill Sam???
Dean knocks stuff off the bunker table in anger after getting Kevin’s email that he’s dead if they get it (Dean’s habit of going physical on his surroundings when angry is very consistent…and highlight his anger management issues)
Unable to locate Garth
No other prophets have been activated, though
Cas is using Biggersons to elude the angels
Smart Sam recognizes a mark on Kevin’s work as matching the symbol of a Native American tribe that he learned about in Stanford (what a coincidence…)
Ruthless angels kill Biggersons’ customers…Cas calls Naomi on it, she blows off the criticism with examples of other horrors angels have done for god
Continuity error—Sam remembers the donkey ride in the Grand Canyon but back in season 2 Dean says they’ve never been to the Grand Canyon
Sam really looks terrible
Why submerge Sam’s entire face in the ice bath? Wouldn’t you want to keep his nose and mouth out so he doesn’t drown???
Angel blade bullets—more clever Crowley
Metatron doesn’t know who the Winchesters are—Sam: ‘What, you really haven't heard of us? What kind of angel are you, we're the freaking Winchesters’
Smart Kevin figured out how Crowley has trapped him
Metatron is not an archangel, contrary to what Cas said when the Leviathan tablet came to light
Note for trying to make sense of season 15—Metatron: ‘God…seemed very worried about his work, what would happen to it when he left, so he had me write down instructions. Then, he was gone’
Metatron: ‘…storytelling. That is the true flower of free will…When you create stories, you become gods, of tiny, intricate dimensions unto themselves’
Sam despises Metatron for hiding, challenges Metatron to shoot him to Dean’s horror
Metatron saves Kevin and casually mentions what the last trial is
Dean: ‘…if we do this, you get better, right? I mean, you stop trying to cough up a lung, and, and, and bumping into furniture?’—Dean is still deluding himself…Sam gives a non-answer: ‘I fell better…just having a direction to move in’
This episode is all to set up the finale…

171. Clip Show (8.22)—W: Dabb/D: Wright
Recap: Metatron, trials, rescue Kevin, Cas is back, Abaddon
So long Tommy from season 1…
Sam is actually honest about feeling awful
Dean ignores Cas who is in the bunker for the first time—he is pissed and won’t accept Cas’ apology: ‘You didn’t trust me…so you can take your little apology and you cram it up your ass’—Cas: ‘I thought I was doing the right thing’—Dean: ‘Yeah, you always do’
Boys go into storeroom in bunker with flashlights—no light bulb in the room?
Smart Dean finds the dungeon (which seems really oddly situated, but what do I know about dungeon placement in secret bunkers?)
Dean still not forgiving Cas
A demon has a human soul that has been twisted by hell (Note that in the auction episode Plutus says Crowley doesn’t have a soul but according to this lore—and the next episode—he does)
Priest questions if Sam is all right—Dean: ‘…over the past couple of months, I've seen him do crap that I didn't even think was possible. I mean, sure, he's miserable and he's hurting, but you know what? There's not a doubt in my mind that he's gonna cross that finish line – not one’—How about sharing that with Sam, Dean? He needs to know you believe in him!
Metatron starts his manipulation of Cas, sells him on closing the gates of heaven
Cas has to kill the Nephilim girl—when he balks, Metatron: ‘What’s more important? Her life or your family?’
Dumb Dean has the idea to sew Abaddon back together to use for the last trial—why use the most powerful demon around? And you want me to believe Sam and Dean can just sew a body back together?????? That is the most ridiculous premise in the entire 15 years. (I know, they wanted to bring back Abaddon because she was a memorable character…but come on, come up with something believable, a spell, or Cas, or some other angel, or something!!!)
Abaddon was not in yet Josie’s meatsuit when she killed the priest
Dumb boys walk out on Abaddon
Hand crawling out of the box is one creepy visual!
Crowley kills the cupcake girl—except she was in season 7 and the books end at season 3
Sarah Blake says Sam seems more confident, focused, but she misses his old haircut LOL; she is married with an almost one-year-old
Angel blade kills Nephilim—question for the future, I kind of think angel blades didn’t work on Jack? But maybe I’m remembering wrong…
Crowley says he’s the son of a witch (true) who taught him a few tricks (I doubt that since she sold him as a toddler)
Crowley taunts them while Sarah is dying: ‘Saving people, hunting things – the family business…Well, I think the people you save, they're how you justify your pathetic little lives…the one thing that allows you to sleep at night… is knowing that these folks are out there, still out there happy and healthy because of you, you great, big, bloody heroes! They're your life's work, and I'm going to rip it apart piece by piece because I can, because you can't stop me, and because when they're all gone, what will you have left? You want to keep these people alive, I want complete and utter surrender’—that is the devastating speech of a purely evil villain
Dean: ‘You okay?’—Sam: ‘What do you think?’—Seriously, they have got to stop asking each other that question…
Sam: ‘Maybe this isn’t one we can win. Maybe we should just take the deal’—Dean: ‘We’ll figure this out…we’ll kick it in the ass like we always do’
Sarah’s death HURT! And that is why I could never understand in future seasons how they get buddy-buddy with Crowley—not after he did that. There was a lot going on in this episode, again to set up the finale, but the killing off of the people the boys had saved was truly tragic and evil. So I’m invested in seeing Crowley losing…

172. Sacrifice (8.23)—W: Carver/D: Sgriccia
Road so far of the season
Jody in peril! You better not kill Jody off!!!
Kevin takes boys to his half of the demon tablet and they send him to the bunker for safety (where has he been in the meantime? And do they have a spare key???)
Cas still not savvy in pop culture…
Brilliant boys trap Crowley: ‘You’re the 3rd trial’
Sam as they are outside the church: ‘…for the first time in a long time, it feels like we’re gonna win’
And then Dean offers suggestions for what Sam can say in confession and I want to punch him: ‘I'm just spit-balling here, but if I were you...Ruby, killing Lilith, letting Lucifer out, losing your soul, not looking for me when I went to Purgatory…’—Way to show you believe in Sam! And losing his soul was not Sam’s fault! Oh, after all they’ve gone through this season, to throw this up in Sam’s face again…I blame the writer, honestly, for forcing the issue to get the big climactic scene he wants at the end…
Cas shows up and urgently needs Dean’s help again…and Dean goes, telling Sam: ‘Start the injections now. If I'm not back in eight hours, finish it, no questions, no hesitation’
Cas goes ballistic on Kevin when he balks at reading another tablet
Sam ignores Crowley’s jibes
Crowley’s call to hell sure backfires when Abaddon shows up to dethrone him
Smart Sam sets Abaddon on fire
Naomi tells Cas and Dean that Metatron lied to Cas about closing the gates of heaven—Cas refuses to believe her
Naomi tells Dean that Sam is going to die if he finishes the trials—duh!
Dean: ‘You finish this trial, you’re dead, Sam’—Sam: ‘So?’ (This is the conviction of his worthlessness to Dean that was the showrunner’s goal for the whole season so that Dean could declare how much he really needs Sam—and it was a sucky endgame. The boys deserved so much better)
Sam: ‘You want to know what I confessed in there? What my greatest sin was? It was how many times I let you down. I can't do that again…What happens when you've decided I can't be trusted again? I mean, who are you gonna turn to next time instead of me? Another angel, another vampire? Do you have any idea what it feels like to watch your brother just…’—Dean: ‘You seriously think that? Because none of it…is true…I know I've said some junk that set you back on your heels. But, Sammy...come on. I killed Benny to save you. I'm willing to let this bastard and all the sons of bitches that killed mom walk because of you. Don't you dare think that there is anything, past or present, that I would put in front of you! It has never been like that, ever! I need you to see that. I'm begging you’
Metatron tricks Cas, the angels fall, and Sam may have stopped the trials but he is in very bad shape anyway.
It would have been much more satisfying—and in character with his previous actions at the end of season 5—if Sam had finished the trials from a position of emotional strength. That would have made the season about the boys being heroes instead of spending it tearing each other apart. The only saving grace to this season were the stand-alone episodes with the terrific guest characters.

I really went into this season looking for reasons to like it…I’m not looking forward to season 9…