Elle said this in one of her recent articles, and I couldn't agree more.

BOO-URNS!!!!! (Simpsons reference if you want me to explain).

Ugh, who keeps approving these messy scripts? There are so many different ways they could have handled the aftermath of Bobby's death. This? Give the script to a writer who wouldn't know emotional depth if he was smacked across the forehead with it by a 2 x 4?

The MOTW story was even horrible! What a waste of Meghan Ory. Why bring in guest stars like that when you give them nothing?

I'm sure I'll find something I liked about this. Madison was cool. Her story was a bit all over the place though. Too rushed. We didn't get a chance to like her. Frank, I like him, but his scenes seemed more like time wasters. Except the speech to Dean. That was great. The acting pulled that off.

Who is this character called Sam Winchester anymore? He's turned into some tasty wallpaper. Thanks show for making a 14 year old more interesting. As for Dean, what exactly did he learn here? That he's stuck with hunting whether he likes it or not so he must do his job? That's...that's ...that's not interesting at all!

What's happening? Sorry, I'm sure it'll be better after I get some sleep.

All in all, I liked this episode. The grieving process shown, from the shock & numbness of the first week through to each of them focusing on the things that helped them deal felt right for each character. The MOTW worked for me and the guest actors were great. I am guessing that this season is about the search for hope-that feels right to me for some reason. The loss of Bobby is hard for me to come to terms with-the same as it is for the characters. I think the key word that keeps showing up here is 'feel' - this episode made me FEEL - pain, shock, angst, mild humor, anger, the list goes on. And somehow, that feels right, too.

I liked this episode although there were problems throughout it. Shout out to Jensen! Jensen really showed Dean's angst feelings at losing Bobby. I can see him becoming so single minded and driven after his death. I'm just worried that after Dean gets even with Leviathan...wha t's next? Will he want to lay down his arms forever and walk away or go on a one way suicide mission which he knows he won't survive? What will be his purpose for continuing on if he does decide to keep pushing on? It doesn't appear that Sam will be enough any more.

Poor Jared...stop using him as expensive wallpaper to use part of Alice's response! And as for Sam, I understand that they may not want to take the path of showing Sam going totally to pieces...as in a little crazy, but maybe they should. Take it further down that road! It would be totally realistic with everything that he has gone through. The writers seem to be using a bandaid approach to Sam's situation. We'll patch it now and address it later. I really think that "later" has arrived.

As for the missing beer...I hope if that means that Bobby is still around in spirit, it won't be for long. He's of much better use as a whole person than a ghost. Someone that Dean and Sam can and have relied on both professionally and personally. Enough of the killing of friends...We've all had our fun with the Butch Cassidy and Sundance Kid references. Now, let's repopulate the world. Give us back the Impala! (I'm ready for a great car chase!) Heck, at this point, I'll even take a "bad dream" reference for this whole year (like Dallas...Pam and Bobby shower scene). I'm just saying that I'm tired of them killing friends in almost every episode or that's what it seems to me.

Of course, I still am loving Supernatural as a whole. Just some hard decisions need to be made and they need to be made more sooner than later....

Overall I give this episode a "B+".

PS. I really liked Madison McLaughlin as Krissy and I hope she will return along with Kevin McNally as Frank. Both actors are very enjoyable to watch!

You are the first person to put into plain terms how I feel about this show right now. I do feel like it's that long-term relationship where you used to think that nothing could ever make you love it less, but then you get into this comfortable routine but everything has changed, while everything is fine, but nothing is fine. Now, you're left with this hole wondering if things can ever get back on the right path or if it's just going to keep getting bigger and bigger. But I don't know if I have same hope. I know watching the first two episodes of the season I remember exactly why I loved this show, but now, that feeling is crashing so far.

I didn't cry for Bobby. I'm sure if that's because it hasn't registered or if it's because I haven't cried over this show since "Swan Song." And I'm not really interested in the Leviathans. They seem more like an inconvenience than a threat. And yeah, the Leviathans killed Bobby, but since there is absolutely no hope in the show and everyone dies for no reason and nothing ever comes out of getting the bad guy, what's the point of getting upset over the Leviathans killing Bobby? If it wasn't Dick Roman, then it would have been something else? And it's not like anything good or rewarding is going to come out of stopping the Leviathans. Even if the world is saved, Dean is just going to get more and more depressing and Sam is just going to go more and more into the background.

I want the Impala back. I loved that for once Sam going to Stanford was used as a good thing instead of Sam was selfish and wrong. I don't like that Dean didn't take the time to correct John's journal. What was up with that? I wonder if something bad happened on that hunt and made Dean not talk about it. I hope that maybe in some type of supplemental material we get that answer.

I didn't like the monster of the week, mainly because you could see how everything was going to play out. It was kind of like paint by numbers only Supernatural edition. The only twist was that Dean didn't kill the monster.

I like Frank too, but some of scenes went on too long and just were pointless. They could have focus a little more on Sam, but then that would require writing Sam which seems to have cause a lot of difficulties this season. But something for Sam. Just a couple of conversations with someone who cares or someone trying to get through to him, but Sam's quiet that must mean he's not fine or fine depending on the week. I don't know.

I hate that Dean is only staying for revenge. He hates hunting now and he doesn't believe there is anything else. I don't recognize him anymore. I had a lot of trouble recognizing him last season, but I still thought Dean was in there somewhere. But now, he's just gone. Both Sam and Dean are. They just seem so hallow. There is no hope and not like middle of fourth and fifth season. Because at least then you knew there was a dooms-day moment when everything had to come to ahead. Here, there is nothing. And the episodes being all over the place don't help to focus on anything or feel much of anything.

I don't know. Maybe it's time to take a break from the show. I can't remember the last time I missed an episode or tried staying from the fan online. I think I missed fifteen minutes of an episode back in season four and the last full episode I missed was season one. I'm sorry to go on so long, but I don't know what to do. The characters have nothing to hope and guest stars are more interesting than Sam's quietness. And I'm tired of it having to be one brother or the other brother's pain to focus on. They could have just thrown out the MOTW and really focused on the brothers. A lot of shows do that (throw out the weekly formula) to allow characters to cope with the pain of losing a loved one.

I hate the idea of not watching because I want to be there for Jared and Jensen no matter what, but I'm getting really detached from the show. And I am sad over how the direction of the show. I never thought I would be more excited and interested in The Vampire Diaries than Supernatural, but yet, The Vampire Diaries almost had me in tears this week over a character just leaving for a while and Supernatural kills off a long-time character and I'm more upset with the writers and the direction than Bobby's death. I feel like something is wrong with me!

I think it was a sense of obligation more than anything that had me watch this episode but I was quite surprised, and in a good way. Sure, there were gaping holes all over it and a few things that made me go ‘What the hell?’ but there were also some nice references to seasons past so it wasn’t all bad.

I liked the whole ‘week at a time’ jump as a means of showing the boys processing Bobby’s death. It seemed quite appropriate, and real. The first few days following a loss are spent just sitting in shock, too numb to move or even talk. Come week two, you’re going through the motions such as washing dishes (hurrah for washing dishes!) and come week three the anger/actual realisation starts setting in.

The thing with the beer was quite strange. Please do not let Bobby be a ghost. If that happens chances are Sam and Dean could end up having to salt and burn him one day and that will end the boys altogether. Hopefully it will just be a ‘nudge nudge wink wink’ sort of thing ala the bent spoon in The Mentalists.

Where on earth did Dean get $15,000 from? Did Bobby have life assurance or something? Is it physically possible to sleep for 36 hours straight on a hardbacked chair? (Course it is possible that Frank mixed up time again but still....) Is it really that easy to steal a cherrypicker? Why, oh why, does proof of blood have to come from a big slash on the arm? Would a needle to the finger not be sufficient? And why on earth are they cutting near veins? And they’re sharing knives!! I’m going to send Dean a leaflet on the danger of doing things like that.

And you're right about the bungee. That three hunters (who knew they were going to be attacked) could be dispossessed so easily of their weapons is farcical.

Re: Dean. Dude is marching head first down the road of revenge and that’s a scary thing. Revenge destroyed his father, it almost destroyed his brother so I’d rather Dean not go down that route because if he does not only will it mean that he hasn't learned a damn thing from Sam’s mistakes but if he does go there then the foundations the show was built on will start crumbling. It will no longer be about saving people, hunting things; the family business and Dean will no longer be a hero driven to save lives. Dean will become a Gordon, so consumed by hate and revenge it will completely twist him, make him unrecognisable and prohibit him from seeing any hope anywhere, at any time.

I’ve often felt that there have been many times this season where the show has sought to dissociate itself from seasons past and one thing the first five seasons always had was hope. No matter how bad things got and no matter how small the sliver of hope was, it was always there. I hope to God that the show won’t become so dark and so bleak that there is no hope left to be found, and they are coming dangerously close to that point (if they’re not already there).

What to say about Sam in this episode? I liked that he distracted the beastie so she wouldn’t kill Lee, that was cool and true to character. (Though what a horrible thing to say to anyone, even a monster!) What else? Um, I liked the grey brown shirt he had on at the start of the episode. Thank God he wasn’t wearing it when he was getting gnawed on because the blood would have ruined it. Oh, and he washed the dishes. That’s about all that can be said, really. (I’ve learned not to expect too much in relation to Sam.....)

One thing though, how many times this season will Sam have to play the pretty princess to Dean’s rescuing prince? I’m slightly bothered by the idea that the three times this season Sam has gone off on his own he either (a) went on a road trip with Lucifer and needed to be rescued (b) messed up a hunt and needed to be rescued or (c) gotten married and needed to be rescued. If Dean decides to put a leash on Sam and refuse to let him out of his sight from here on in then Sam will find it difficult to argue with that because he is seemingly incompetent when it comes to working on his own.

I liked Chrissy. She was spunky and exactly how I imagine a 14 year old female Dean would be. She asked the right questions, didn’t take any crap from anyone and is determined to be the master of her own fate. She’s not going to take condescension from people who think she’s incapable because of her age. She had the wherewithal to get herself out of cuffs, keep a weapon hidden on her person and know how to kill the nasty beasties whose name I can’t spell. I also liked Lee but that’s more cos he was nummy. Shame they’ve retired.

Hurrah for Stanford not being used as the means to attack, offend or rebuke but as something valid and worthy, something to aim for. That was nice.

In fairness, those two beasties whose name I can’t spell were asking to be killed. There were two people, nay two hunters, unrestrained in the picture and one of them decides to start feeding on a guy who is tied up? Man, some monsters really are too stupid to live!

I’m still not overly keen on Frank. He almost seems like a parody of a conspiracy theory nut. While I appreciate the sincerity of the advice he gave Dean, I still think he’d be better in small doses. (And show, don’t even think about trying to replace Bobby with Frank.)

Franks advice to Dean is valid though, and advice that Dean himself has dished out to Sam on more than one occasion. You fake it til you make you make it. Suck it up and move on. Hunt til you get it or it gets you etc because there's really not much else to do. I know it’s an idea that adds to the overall bleakness of the season but I don't think hunters can ever be happy. Sure, they can have moments of levity (like being tickled on your deathbed) but they spend their lives surrounded by death, and loss and suffering. They must surely wake up every morning wondering if this is going to be the day they die bloody (and quite possibly hoping that it is). Even if they retired they couldn’t be happy because those experiences shaped who they are. Plus, how could they be happy knowing that there were people out there who needed help but they were choosing not to help? There’s no escaping it so they can either be miserable while sitting on their hands, or miserable while helping others. Man, that is beyond depressing.

Still though, onwards and upwards. Not the worst start for the second half of the season.

Thanks for this Ardeospina. Hope you guys are doing well.

I'm feeling a little ambivalent towards this episode right now. I will have to rewatch a few times to form a cogent response to it. I can say that it took me a while to even get into it after learning that Bobby is it fact really dead. I mean really show? You are going to take away another beloved character, and one that Sam & Dean need in their lives to survive? Come on! Although if he is a ghost I'll take it. An ethereal Bobby is better than no Bobby at all.

As for the show itself, I really think that two storylines is one storyline too many. I liked both aspects, and I would have liked it better had it been one or the other. I really like Frank, but as you say Ardeo, I'm going to try not to get attached to him, because I'm sure he will become cannon fodder somewhere down the road. And I really liked Krissy, feisty little girl can kick ass! It might be interesting if they met her and her father sometime in the future. They supposedly quit the hunting business, but really, can anybody really quit that life?

I'm rewatching the episode now so I can digest all the information better. But I'm not going to lie, Bobby dying has bummed me out but good. I'll try smiling like Dean, but it's not going to be easy.

I hated this episode. It had everything I've come to dislike about this season (the Dean emotional focus, interaction only with Dean by side characters, lack of depth in Sam's character - he's really only about empathy now, and a dumbing down of Sam and Dean). And this episode seemed to handle everything awkwardly. I didn't understand Dean's look at the end, the dialogue was dull, and there were weird moments such as Dean instantly falling asleep.

Re: The $15,000. They had a huge pile of GOLD they took from the dragon's lair and it can't be all gone yet.

Re: Bobby. Won't believe he is dead until I see a burn or a grave. Hoping he is comatose and some reason for acting as if he has died. (to keep safe from the big mouths maybe?)

Liked the episode as I am still hopeful for Bobby. After all, he and the sheriff have to get it on, don't they?

About the beer bottle and the 36 hours and the time they met Frank (is that his name?) How about God of Time messing about with them? Could be the out they have for Bobby to be alive. Get back to before he got shot and prevent it. Don't care if its cheesy! Just want Bobby!

Wasn't the best and certainly wasn't the worst episode ever, and am looking forward to meeting Eliot Ness again.

Still love this show and never want to see the end of it.

I was wondering if anyone has listened to Adam Glass's podcast over at Winchesterbros? I heard that it suppose to explain a lot of the problems with the episode. And while I disprove of having to have the episode explained to me to make me feel better about it, I was wondering if anyone had and if it did make a difference. I guess he wouldn't explain why Dean isn't Dean or why Sam has to be in the background, but I am curious if it does help with the episode.

(I'm not trying to be mean or anything about asking this, but I heard that it helped so I was wondering if it helped anyone or if it provided valuable insight to the brothers.)

I loved the episode. Except for Bobby being dead (I so did not want him to be dead..bad writers Krissy was terrific. A female version of a young Dean. MOTW was interesting and some what deadly. Loved Dean in the cherry picker. Jensen is so good at subtle comedic movements. Last scene Dean trying to smile broke my heart

The one thing that struck me as highly irritating is that the writers ignored Dean's reliance on alcohol. Dean drinks when he's sad, happy, frustrated... Well, pretty much all the time. So Bobby dies and apparently all he does is sit on a couch and look sad?

What I want to know is... Where was the scene showing Dean face down on the couch having managed to drink himself unconscious? Or maybe just aimlessly watching TV and drinking? This would have been far more in keeping with Dean's character. It would have also been an opportunity for Sam to interact with Dean in a more forceful way - that is, Sam is trying to deal with his own grief and having to deal with Dean's sh*tty coping mechanisms.

That would have been much more in keeping with both characters' reaction to grief based on every episode since S4.

As to Sam - Sam's time in hell and his return was an excellent opportunity to reset the character but the writers seem to have bailed on this entire concept. After all, the purpose Sam was born for has been fufilled (he did become Lucifer's meat suit, temporarily) and he has more than paid the price. The writers at this stage could have Sam process that realization in a more pronounced way and then Sam gets his mojo back and makes some changes that are beneficial to both of the brothers.

Personally, I've always wanted to see a short arc in a season where the guys actually stay put in a small town for a few episodes and try to fit in while hunting monsters.