raloria

Was able to watch the East Coast feed this week along with live on the TV on West Coast time. These notes are from the 2nd West Coast viewing only.

I'm trying to give myself a break and not kill myself doing these reviews. We'll see how it goes this season.
What's here are basic reactions I typed out during the show, with a few bits and pieces put in afterwards. Hopefully it'll be brief, but still interesting.

Great song during the "Then" portion with a nice overview of the season so far.

Poor Alfie...they're really working him over. :(
But he makes contact with...Naomi??? Don't know whether him working with her is a good thing or not.
Took me a little while to figure out where I remembered this interrogator demon. He was in "Crossroad Blues"...Evan, who made the deal 'cause his wife had cancer.

I thought for sure Sam was gonna slam the door in Dean's face there.
Dean is still trying to explain what happened with Benny....but Sam's not having any of it.
He's still pissed over Dean sending him off to Amelia.
Oh, Dean....don't apologize (tho I get why he does).
They simply can't get past this...it's sad. Dean leaves again... :(

Awww...Cas popping in to heal that crying baby. Sweet!
Naomi kidnaps him again, tells Cas about Alfie being taken by Crowley. She wants him back, but stresses it was his idea.

Awww...snoring Dean! *loves* :)
Hee! Cas waking him up. Nice touch with Dean being all bleary-eyed. Thanks Jensen. :)
Cas isn't good at talking to people...
LOL Dean with the Busty Asian Beauties site. "You saw nothing." :P

I still say that's Robert Singer doing the voice-over on the nature program. Heh.
Amelia again...*sigh*
And she keeps finishing his sentences...sweet. Annoying, but sweet for them.
She was happy with Don...now Sam's here and she doesn't know how to deal with it.
He still cares and so does she...and they're kisssing....

Interrogator demon has shut down Alfie's link to Angel Radio. Ouch with the head vice.
But he taps into something...or should I say screws? Alfie starts speaking in Enochian...lights a bush on fire and burns a guy. Yikes. That's one way to have a burning bush.

Ooooh...return of some older music! Reminds me of Croatoan score.
OMG...Dean in that dark blue suit. *dies*
Castiel: "That's his serious face, yes." LOL
Castiel: “The amount of pain an angel must be in not just to manifest through shrubbery, but to burn. Dean, we have to find him before it’s too late.”
"...manifest through shrubbery...." That part just cracks me up. XD
So it takes a lot of pain for an angel to do that. Yikes.

Ah, shirtless Sam. Nice. :)
Oh, come on, Amelia...you didn't have to track Sam down to the motel after you saw him at the bar. You're the one who pursued him here. Quit putting this on Sam! Sorry, but I'm kinda sick of her, even though I know I should like her a bit.
Anyway, she wants him to decide...either he's here with her or not.
They decide to think about it...have 2 days and either they meet up at the motel room or they don't.

First thing I thought with this Impala thru the fire shot? It's gonna be nearly impossible to cap. LOL No joke!
Cas can see the demons outside the building...wants to bring Sam in, but Dean says no. "If Sam wanted to be, he'd be here."
So they go visit Kevin instead. Kid looks bad...gotta be tough trying to read only half a tablet.
They've come for more demon bombs. Cas agrees to go get the ingredients they'll need.

Crowley! “What on Earth could you possibly need now, Viggo. I’ve given you every torture instrument known to man, short of a Neil Diamond album.” LMAO :P
Guess Viggo tapped into Alfie's angel operating system...all the secrets of the angels are spilling out. Peachy.
Interesting that Crowley understands Enochian...

Dean doesn't do waiting well. :P
Benny calls...needs Dean's help again. He's not handling the whole solo thing very well. Sounds like he needs more dead man's blood supply...temptation for live blood is calling. Dean says he'll be there soon.
I like this little bit with Dean wondering where Kevin's mom is and being a little hurt that he would just dump her to do the job of translating the tablets.
Kevin: “I can’t enjoy a world I need to save, Dean. I can enjoy it when this is all over with.”
Dean seems to understand that all too well, even though I'm sure he's convinced he'll never get to enjoy the world ever again.

Cas drops in on a thinking Sam...heh.
Dean's less than thrilled that Cas dragged Sam into this, but Cas says they need everything.
"I need both of you, as you say, to stow your crap. Can you do that?"
You tell'em Cas! :P

Ah, sweet baby. Everytime we see you this season it's a gift...especially after last season. :D
Cas gives Sam the symbol to put over the angel proofing in the building so he can get in...and an angel sword. Sweet.
Btw, where did that Sharpie come from?
Love how Dean just whistles, demon walks over, and Sam kills him. "Well not my most original work but..." Hee!
The boys split up in the building...not a great idea anytime but especially now when they're not really buddy-buddy.
Crowley finds out the angels are hardwired to protect the tablets. Poor Alfie's screams...sheesh.
Love these shots of the boys and demons skulking about in the dark rooms. Very cool.
Gah! Sammy!!!! But he gets the demon. Oh, no!!!! Dean to the rescue this time. :)
Oh, boy...demons coming fast! Time to light'em up!!! That's a cool effect.
Viggo's getting a little nervous..."We seem to be under attack." Crowley's not concerned. He wants info.
Cas gets in the building but he's not at full power and looking a little weakened. Then the flashbacks start. Owie.
Dean's trying to get in the room, but can't get the door open.
Dean: "Alright. Plan B."
Sam: "We have a Plan B?" LOL
Love the boys barreling into the door to try to bust it open. Cas is still out of it.
Big revelation....but ok, not really....Crowley learns there's an angel tablet. Uh oh...

The boys finally get through the door and Crowley takes off, leaving Viggo to fend for himself. Typical.
Cas removes the screws from poor Alfie...and remembers being similarly tortured by Naomi.
Dean saves Sam's bacon again.
Viggo tries to bargain for his life..."I know things! You need me!" But Dean kills him anyway.

Cas says he's going to take Alfie home, but the angel confesses he told Crowley everything: Naomi, the tablet.
Sounds like Alfie has been dominated by Naomi as well...“I’ve been there. I know. They’re controlling us, Castiel.”
Naomi orders Cas to kill him. Nooooooo!!!!!!! Damn. :(
"What did I just do?" Poor Cas. He wanted to atone for killing angels in the past and he just did it again.
Naomi presses that Alfie was a traitor, that she's trying to protect them. She makes Cas explain away what he did, that he had to defend himself against Alfie...to the boys. Lies, lies, lies. *sigh* Rotten Naomi!
What's with the eye bleeding, Cas? The boys can see something's going on, but Cas takes off with Alfie's body.

Sam puts symbols all over the cabin so Cas can't see or hear them.
They're are puzzled over what's up with Castiel. Dean says he's got this though, Sam should leave.
Dean: “I’m just tired of all the fighting. And, you know, 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.”
But Sam's not sure what to do, things are different now and they've got a lot more to deal with.
Dean gives him the same ultimatum Amelia did - “Whatever you decide, decide. Both feet in or both feet out. Anything in between is what gets you dead.”
Sam leaves to take a walk and clear his head.

Meanwhile, Benny's on his last batch of dead man's blood.
Dean calls to say goodbye, this is it. He's not coming to help. He thanks Benny for everything he did, but they've gotta cut ties. Poor Benny. Don't think he'll make it without Dean to back him up. He'll start killing for blood. :(

We see Amelia show up at the empty motel room. Again, I wanna feel sad for her, but I really don't.
We see Sam join Dean on the couch, dinner and beers in hand. They've made their choices and it's to stay together. :)

Highlights:
- Really didn't like Amelia in this ep. Just when I was slowly, starting to like and feel some sympathy for her she goes all love-crazy over Sam. Not that that in and of itself is a bad thing *g*, it's how she did it. So she comes to the bar to be sure it was him. Fine. I get it. But then she shows up (I presume the next day) at his motel room! Then has the nerve to say he has to decide whether he wants to be with her or not. Um...who followed who here, missy? Who stepped up and kissed who? That was all Amelia! But I'm glad she finally forced him to choose. Enough is enough. And you'll notice she was the one to return to the motel room in the end...

- I've read some reactions from other fans who really didn't like the torture scenes, but I applaud the show for going that far. They've often held back on the violence in the past. Though it was tough to see poor Alfie go through all that. :(

- Nice to see a whole host of familiar characters return. We not only had Cas, Crowley, Alfie, and Amelia, but Benny and Kevin as well. It was like a who's who of Season 8. :)

- I guess since we've said goodbye to Amelia and Benny that means no more flashbacks. I'll certainly miss the ones of Purgatory. Dean...*guh* I suspect (and hope) we now begin to build on what happened to Castiel. Why did Naomi pull him from Purgatory? What is her end game...besides protecting the now revealed angel tablet?

- Hated that the boys were still pissed at each other at the beginning...well, Sam was pissed. Dean was just trying to be reasonable. Didn't like it when Dean apologized. For what exactly? Standing by his friend? Saving his friend from his brother who was hell-bent on killing the vampire who had done no wrong? I feel Dean only apologized to try and mend fences with Sam. Pretty sure Sam realized it wasn't sincere either. But in the end (and thanks to Cas for actually bringing them back together) they both sacrifice their other relationships for each other. One of my friends questioned why Dean had to cut off Benny. Well Dean forced Sam to ultimately choose...all or nothing. Wouldn't be fair if he didn't do the same thing. And in essence he'd been partially holding onto Benny's friendship since returning from Purgatory. I don't think there was any doubt the boys would make the right decision, but I was very happy they did. I was tired of the lies, distrust, and fighting. There's too much at stake for them not to be getting along. Now maybe things will be a little more back to normal. :)

Are they both sad in the end? Yes. It was tough for them to walk away completely from people who meant so much to them during their year apart, but I think maybe, they both finally realized that they'd be worse off and more miserable if things remained the way they had been. Whose to say if Sam had gone back to Amelia that he truly would've had a happy life? It's one thing to think Dean was dead and him give up the hunting life, but with Dean out there alone? You gotta know Sam would be worried with nobody to watch Dean's back. And what would keep Amelia faithful with Don still alive? She seems kinda wishy-washy in the love department. And I think even Dean isn't completely sold that Benny will stay on the straight and narrow. He's been given no reason to doubt....so far. I strongly suspect we'll see Benny again. I can totally see him popping up at the end of the season, having finally turned to killing people to survive, and Dean (or Sam for that matter) has to kill him. :(

However, the boys are back together. We'll see in the episodes to come whether or not they're truly committed to sticking it out and making it work. I hope they do. I hope the fighting is over. A little disagreement is good and healthy even, but I like my Winchester brothers being friends and not enemies.

Bring on next week!