raloria

Doing these 2 together since I'm so far behind. You'll also find that these are a little more brief, which could be a good thing (or not - you decide). Sadly, with SuperWiki being down, I didn't have it to help me with info., transcripts, & quotes, so I used EpGuides/TVRage instead. Hope you enjoy the recap & notes anyway. :P

7x14 "Plucky Pennywhistle's Magic Menagerie"

Love the bit about Dean being squeamish using a pay phone to converse with Frank. I'm the same way. Thank goodness for cell phones! Dean: Seriously, Frank, Pay phones? Come on, I'm getting the clap off this thing just touching it.
Dean: Bite look a little vampy to you?
Sam: Yeah, no question.
Dean: So what are we looking for? Octo-Vamp? Vamptopus?
Sam: That's crazy, even for us, right?
Dean: Does push the envelope.
Dean and his names for things. Hee! :P
The guy getting nailed by the unicorn was great! LOL Where else on TV are you gonna see something like that? You gotta love how the show comes full circle and confirms Dean's quote from S2's "Houses Of The Holy" about unicorns shooting rainbows out of their ass. :P
Now we find out the truth...Dean used to leave poor little Sammy at Plucky Pennywhistle's while he cruised for chicks. Poor Sam! No wonder he hates clowns though you have to wonder what specifically caused the trauma. I love how Dean acknowledges Sam's fear and reminds him that if it bleeds, he can kill it. That then becomes Sam's mantra while he's being chased by those 2 demented clowns.
Can't help but laugh at how Plucky's makes me think of Chuck E. Cheese's (even though I've never been to one). Is it crazy that those things are still around?
Kids draw their fears, which seem to be coming true and killing their parents...Blah, Blah, Blah. Dude gets killed killing out the ball pit, but hey, life goes on, right? Libby's really busy and stressed out working at Plucky's and can't really devote a lot of time to her son, Tyler.
Sam as the bad cop is kinda funny, creepy ('cause it harkens back to Season 6's soulless Sam), and a little exhilarating. Go Sammy! *guh* Meanwhile, Dean hangs out, tries not to look pervy, and has his eye on winning a giant rainbow slinky.
Dean sympathizes with Tyler and advises him to cut his mom some slack. Meanwhile, after chasing down the establishment's mascott, the dude tells the brothers that there's a door out back by the boiler room and there's been strange noises heard.
Sam goes to check out Tyler's place because he drew a robot with lazer eyes, while Dean looks into the boiler room and finds out Plucky employee, Howard has been working some bad mojo to cause the killings. So did Howard actually drown his own brother? Otherwise, why the angry spirit coming back for revenge? Anyway, Dean figures it out and Howard's taken care of and just in the nick of time for poor Sam being beat up by the clowns (not thanks to evil Howard).
The "Right Friggin' Now" bit had me LOL! Sam getting covered in clown glitter was a definite plus. Can't help Dean for having a good chuckle over it and it was nice of Sam to let him have his fun. Dean: I'm sorry. You--you look like you got attacked by some PCP-crazed strippers. And how sweet that Sam got Dean the giant Slinky? Awwww. And Dean got Sam a Plucky clown doll. Hee! Hey, he said he worked out his fear, right? Yeah, maybe not. The doll gets left behind. :P

A fun episode and again the problem was with a crazy human playing God. Fun to see Sam being the aggressor and Dean batting clean-up. The constant switching back and forth between Sam and the clowns and the rest of the episode was a little much, but it paid off in the end. And it was nice to see the boys laughing at the end. I think Sam was especially glad to see Dean in such a good mood considering how he's been unraveling lately.

7x15 "Repo Man"

We start with a flashback to 4 years ago with the boys interrogating a particularly nasty demon possessing a poor postal worker (Jeffery). They want intel on Lilith and I must admit I was a little surprised that Sam participated so much in the torture along with Dean. I get Dean's motivation and falling back into hell's torturer mode, but not Sam. Anyway, they get the demon to finally spill and Dean reads the exorcism ritual. Nice to see a good old exorcism again, not to mention Dean's ring, bracelet, and amulet! Woot! We even get a glimpse of baby as Dean drives Jeffery to the hospital.
In the present the boys are in Idaho and find out Frank's found nothing new on Dick Roman. They're in town because there's been a rash of killings that match the old demon's MO. Meanwhile, Sam is seeing Lucifer and he's not going away too easily anymore.
The boys check out a crime scene, find sulfur, and then visit Nora, the wiccan they worked with 4 years ago. She suspects the demon is again possessing Jeffery. The boys track him down to a halfway house for psychiatric patients and after making sure he isn't possessed, let him in on the demon being back in town. Jeffery informs them the demon had a list of upcoming victims and Sam goes to check out the next one at the library while Dean keeps watch on Jeffery.
Jeffery has had a rough life but is finally turning things around, even taking care of a new dog. He tells Dean the demon had a warehouse where he'd stash his souvenirs and they go there, with Jeffery going by memory on which room to go in. Dean finds a young man tied to a chair, who's obviously been tortured, but before he can free him Jeffery comes up behind and injects Dean with something, knocking him out. Eeeep!
At the library, Sam is persistently bothered by Lucifer. He even has people slam their heads into the tables to try and get Sam's attention, which is really disturbing. Sam eventually follows the woman, but she's actually making out with her boyfriend. Meanwhile, he's not getting any answers on Dean's phone.
Lucifer: Oh well, that's every cell phone Dean's got. One of them should have picked up, right? Big brother's probably dead.
Sam: Shut up.
Lucifer: He said "shut up" to me.
Mark Pellegrino just nails these scenes. His Lucifer is like a petulant child that hates being ignored. Loved seeing him act all whiny and bratty.
Dean wakes up tied to a chair in the warehouse and Jeffery confesses he's been the serial killer all this time (didn't see that coming) and that he loved being possessed by the demon. Now he's working on a ritual to bring the demon back to him.
Sam's trying to figure out what's going on and with Lucifer's help finds a cell scrambler in Jeffery's apartment. He also finds a spell and takes it to Nora, finding out that she wrote it for Jeffery, who kidnapped her son. Oh, and poor Sammy gets whacked on the head again! Ouch!!!
Cutting to the chase: Jeffery does the ritual to bring the demon back, but it possesses Nora's son instead of him. Sam convinces Nora to use the ear of her son (that Jeffery sent her) to track where he and Dean are and soon they're on the scene. Dean shoots Jeffery and Nora exorcises the demon from her son.
The boys return to the motel room and Dean collapses on the bed to sleep. But poor Sam is still being bothered by Lucifer and even hurting his hand won't drive him away anymore. Lucifer says he was let in this time and that won't work and engulfs Sam in flames. :(

Another solid episode. I did not see Jeffery as a serial killer. Glad they surprised me with that one and it was a cool twist that the human wasn't a victim at all, but a willing participant in a possession. I'm also glad that we're finally seeing Lucifer tormenting Sam instead of having it just alluded to all the time. I'm always wondering how often it's a problem for Sam and if it's been slowly increasing in frequency. Oh! Gotta say how cool it was to see Nicole Oliver on the show. I remember her from my other TV obsession before SPN...Kung Fu: The Legend Continues. :)

Two down - one to go!