The Winchester Family Business

I loved this episode!!! It totally rocked in a 100% "Supernatural" way!! I can't wait to rewatch it!! I miss Cas being around and I hope he comes back before the season ends. Crowley was awesome & probably my favorite demon to date. Bobby was funny (margaritas!)...& of course Sam & Dean rocked!! I can't wait for next week's episode!!
Until then, I'm gonna have the song & Dean's face stuck in my head.
This show rocks!!! I love it!!!

Really liked to see all of Brady's ramblings didn't get to Sam. He does seem so much more in control! Him and that knife are something else.

First blush is this was good but not great. It was a bit out of context and inconsistent with things we've seen of late. Sam is brooding and easily tripped up...yes he controlled himself although he was coldly calculated in his killing of Brady in the end, which no doubt disturbed Dean but seemed not to phase Sam.

The opening in the hospital with the brothers and masks played for laughs but didn't deliver as it was forced.

Crowley is excellent and he lights up the scenes, Mark Shephard that is, and I enjoyed his character who is seemingly helpful while at the same time making no bones about the fact that he is in this for himself. He's an ally until he doesn't need you anymore. Like they say, keep your friends close your enemies closer.

Bobby remains the voice of reason and I love his interaction with Sam (although I'd have wished in person but both did fabulous work via the phone).

Sam's distrust of Dean and sense of betrayal as Dean left makes sense and yet it doesn't. It's almost as if the events of Point of No Return and Hammer of the Gods didn't happen as Sam appeared so hurt and confused and Dean was cold and uncaring as he left. I get that there are time constraints each episode but I found the pacing there a bit jarring.

Brady was well-played and I like getting even more backstory to the Sam and Jessica time and I truly love that Dean fought against Crowley's determination and instead brought Brady back to Sam and that Sam knew not only from Dean but from Crowley how much Dean was trusting him. I don't fault Sam for failing at first...it's a huge shock and one has to process that anger. this time, unlike when Lilith taunted him, he pulled back and seemed to do it on his own with nothing more than Bobby's words ringing in his mind -- or so I imagine -- as Dean was no longer pounding on the door and shouting.

True, I love it when Sam realizes his actions through the reactions of others but this time he chose himself to back off and not because of some outside cue.

All in all it's a good episode but it's still much of a set up for what's to come. That's not all bad but it's not the brilliance I was hoping for.

I give Edlund kudos for dialing it back on the gross-o-meter. Appears he knows he sets the standard and instead is willing to allow Loflin and Dabb and Carver a shot at some grossness.

I have whiplash from the characterization of Sam and Dean's relationship in the past three episodes. Reminds me of later seasons of Buffy, when they were without a strong head writer, and every script had a different version of Spike.

I agree with elle2 that Dean was oddly cold when leaving Sam to go with Crowley. I think that would've been a perfect time for a brotherly conversation where Dean points out they don't have a lot of options, and Sam is reluctant due to Ruby issues, and points out that Dean is usually the one opposing alliances with evil.

I also get whiplash sometimes trying to figure out just *when* I'm supposed to be concerned that the boys are killing demons. Dean presumably offs a few at Brady's office, but no worries, folks! But then I'm supposed to bite my lip in concern when Sam kills Brady? Sorry, can't have it both ways, Show.

I typically find Edlund's scripts plotless and meandering. This one at least had a plot, but was paced strangely, and seemed to pick up and drop ideas like a bored toddler with too many toys.

Brady's speech to Sam at the end just had me rolling my eyes - trusting so many demons? Not really. Brady was in Sam's life before the boys really had much experience with demons (remember the one in Phantom Traveler was new to them) and Sam never bought into Yellow Eye's crap and always resisted him. So Ruby was really the only demon Sam trusted. Which admittedly, was the biggest mistake of his life.

Don't I feel sheepish. If Brady wasn't dead before, Crowley bashing his head in with a freaking crowbar ought to do the trick.

While I really liked this episode, it was also clearly the set up for the next two episodes. Mark Sheppard rocked, and I was fine with him getting a large part of the episode. Brady...while I like what he means for Sam, I thought the actor was a little weak, and quite a bit of his stuff could have been cut for more quality time with the boys.

Regarding Sam, I am guessing that his idea to say yes and then jump in the cage is going to come up again. Maybe his demon blood will somehow allow him to fight. I would kind of like that. He would finally be able to take his "curse" and use it to defeat the ultimate evil. Of course he would then be trapped as well so....

Hmmmm. Well. OK.

Have to agree with Mo Ryan somewhat- why did we get Pestilence's understudy? Anticlimax. Also second Dean’s question: ‘Why is he (Pestilence) selling them soft-serve like swine flu when he’s got the Croatoan virus up his sleeve? While I thought the retrofitting of Brady worked and totally did not see that coming - the actor was good - overall I agree with Dean: 'Holy crap, we don't care'.

A couple of scenes were really very good and a couple of plot points were really not: the Bobby-Sam conversation was brilliant -by the way am I right that Bobby always calls Sam ‘kid’ rather than ‘son’?- with the fascinating teaser of the way they get Lucifer back in his cage could be wearing Sam, as was Dean in Brady’s office and Sam facing Brady when he was in the Devil’s Trap. And the ‘magical coin’ (seriously?) notwithstanding, hellhounds always fill me with dread - particularly when Dean has to face them. But thought there is no way Dean would not have smacked Crowley for tricking him - very out of character to be so bewildered. And Dean coming out of the elevator without the knife ready? Please. I don’t get it’. Think before the Brady reveal Sam was also VERY out of character - with the I-am-suddenly-a-man-on-the-edge-again coming as opposed to the very, very welcome Sam-the-Adult in Dark Side of the Moon and Point of No Return. No disrespect to Jensen or Jared who were both excellent - and beautifully shot and lit by Robert Singer and Serge Ladouceur (loved Dean in the elevator).

On a positive note, I do think the fact that no punches were thrown by either all episode rang true post-Point of No Return. And Sam locking Dean up, but not killing Brady and then Dean returning the trust with giving Sam the chance to have his revenge (although wouldn’t Sam have tried an exorcism in case his friend was still in there?) showed the balance they had achieved in their relationship.

Crowley …is good in small doses. I watch the show for Sam and Dean. Not Castiel. Not Bobby. And certainly not Crowley. Supporting actors step out of the spotlight, please. Thank ye kindly.

And though I have thought that Ben Edlund has been by far and away the best writer for the last two seasons, Crowley appeared to be veering dangerously close to Bela/Ruby-land circa Season 3 with making the Winchester's look like idiots.

And the one-liners were flying so thick and fast that I think it went to Mark Sheppard's head a little and there were loud loud LOUD echoes of the David Caruso Supernatural scene...'Well, I say: Jackpot'. (I agree here with Matt Damon – who f***ing does that? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOufqDs_eeI&feature=related). I know this might be heresy but it is a little like what I felt with Richard Speight's performance last week (in fact it was almost a case of ‘the king is dead, long live the king’ with Crowley picking up the wise-cracking baton). When Richard chewed the scenery he really went for it - but when you saw the brilliance of that last scene with Mark Pellegrino you think - well if he can do that why ham it up? (NB Pellegrino seems to be able to avoid the scenery-chewing effortlessly). With regards to Sheppard however, anyone who can look as desperate as he did after blowing out the streetlight and deliver the line 'I have sold sin to saints for centuries' deserves another go.

And finally, while I think ‘Then why are you snake-oilin’ me?’ was vintage Jim Beaver, I wish bloody BuddyTV had not headed an article ‘will Bobby make a deal’ or something like that last week. I avoid spoilers except the trailers like the plague, but that phrase popped up when I was looking at reviews of last week’s episode. Spoilt the last scene for me. Assholes.

So overall...hmmm. Agree with Alice that it improves on re-watch, but agree with Alice, Elle2, Dany and Trina that it was a setup episode. Roll on next week.

"Crowley …is good in small doses. I watch the show for Sam and Dean. Not Castiel. Not Bobby. And certainly not Crowley. Supporting actors step out of the spotlight, please. Thank ye kindly." EXACTLY! Where do I sign?

Oh absolutely Dara. Don't get me wrong. I love Bobby and Castiel. And Gabriel and Zachariah and Rufus and Jo and Ellen and Ash and Chuck and Lucifer and John and Mary and Crowley and Azazel and Andy etc etc and so forth. And wish they were all were going to be in Season 6 - and agree they add so much depth to the show (not to mention giving Jensen and Jared some much deserved respite).

It is the emphasis or proportion of the story on the two leads vs the supporting cast - and with regards to Crowley (and previously Season 3 Bela/Ruby) making the Winchesters constantly look like buffoons - that I question. Not that side stories/sub-plots or challenging the Winchesters is wrong at all - just the way in which it is done and the amount of time that is devoted to it needs to be right for me.

But 'chacun a son gout' - to each their taste. Maybe it's just AndreaW and me!