I absolutely enjoyed the episode. I just can't get enough of Dean. Yes - he has been hugging a lot this season but no one seems to be complaining. I wouldn't. I am so wrapped up in what is ahead for Sam I feel sick. As sick as he looked at moments tonight. It amazes me how emotional I get over this show.

really amazing episode in my eyes. learning more about Charlie and seeing the depth that Felicia and Robbie brought to her was so satisfying. (BTW i think the GPS "deadzone" thing has more to do with the "warding spells" the MOLs put on the bunker, than any technology). and Charlie's parting exchange with Dean ... so spot on and kinda adorkable

This episode may fit the "official" definition of a filler but for me it definitely moved things forward. Sam was absolutely honest with Dean, not hiding how bad off he really is even though he kept saying he was fine. He knew that every time he said it Dean was not buying it and it was probably more for his own benefit. Dean saw his worst fear head on and he chose to react to it with love. He threw his arms around his little brother in yet another wonderful hug. The two of them, together, are going to find Kevin. These are things that needed to happen and they did. It all just happened subtly in the background of a hunt that was in their own backyard. That in my book is not filler stuff. Plus, I don't care how many story lines are left hanging after episode 23, that's what season 9 is for. Yup, I'm a happy camper right now.

Loved the line to Sam after he missed the beer Dean tossed at him after what 24+ hours of sleep. "That's why we don't have nice things, Sam." Laughed out loud. I too was cringing when the boy picked up the stick . . . knew immediately where that was going. Loved the firing range - something tells me that this may have been added by Dean in one of the spare rooms . . . I see that being a must needed improvement after they moved in. Also loved Sam's rationale that it was close enough when they landed on the paper.

This was an extremely fun episode and I especially loved all the throw backs to prior seasons - Dream Root and Djinn's vaccines and of course, the books. I thought he wrote/published the books up to the point of when Sam went into the cage. So it would have ended at the end of the apocalypse with them saving the world.

Jared is live-tweeting the episode right now folks!

I have to say for someone that was totally expecting this to be a really not-for-me episode I thought it was just great. Can we continue to have both of our boys on screen? Thank you

Completely enjoyed this episode. It deserves the title 'standalone' not filler.

Great lines RT, great attention to continuity and canon. I loved the reappearance of Sam's yellow tie - the one first worn in the original djinn episode (What is and What Shall Never Be).

I was totally stressed when I came home from work today; watching this, I relaxed and had fun and was in much better spirits when the credits rolled. Isn't that what entertainment is supposed to be about? Thanks SPN!

Loved the episode. Loved the characterizatio ns and the interactions. Loved that the Djinn mythos change was explained (see that wasn't so difficult!). Loved the referral back to John's journal, and that Sam and Dean were both treated as intelligent - albeit stubborn men. Loved Dean in uniform. (They really could sell a Dean doll with complete line of dress up clothes.) Loved Charlie saying the Men of Letters deserved extinction because of their sexist name. I loved that the bunker has a pistol range - not so happy with lack of eye and ear protection. (Too picky of me?) I really would love to see a blueprint of the bunker - and Sam's bedroom. (Not that way...get your mind out of the gutter!) I am left with only one question; how did they not immediately pick up on the coroner not being human when she so successfully withstood Dean's charm offensive?

I really liked this episode too! I loved that there was a firing range in the bunker. There were lots of funny and sweet moments between Sam and Dean.
BTW, have fun at Disney World. You'll be in my neck of the woods. I live in Mickey's backyard.

Badass folk don't need no stinkin' eye and ear protective gear!!
I have a request to make of all in fandom: Stop commenting on how much you love the Bunker/Batcave. Pretty please! The writers would burn, burn I tell you, the bloody thing down just for the fun of it. They love to hear us howl in anguish.

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Not a fan of Charlie so was surprised that I liked the episode as much as I did. Great to have both brothers working the episode instead of just Dean as I feared it would be.
My main quibble is that instead of filling in Charlie's backstory I would rather have seen what happened with Sam when Dean went to purgatory. I'm tired of the guest stars having more of the plot than the boys do.
BTW did anyone else notice the "Erik Kripke as creative consultant"? Correct me if I'm wrong but I don't recall having seen that before. Has anyone else?

i thought this episode was perfect....

i do enjoy charlie. i love her relationship with the boys. she's the only civilian who knows everything about them. she brings out the bromance in those two boys..i think she's someone they need to keep around...she's a funny character who brings a little levity, but she also relates to the boys in a way no other character relates to them...

funny, but i didn't see this episode as filler at all. i think charlie totally parallels sam. i saw it as furthering along sam's story.

first i can see why dean likes charlie so much. she is very similar to sam in alot of ways.

dean learning about her guilt regarding her parents, her mom. i can so see how he would compare her to sam. sam was a baby, but it didn't stop him from feeling guilty that his mom died in his room, over his crib. in all honesty, i don't know that sam's ever gotten rid of the guilt over his mom. dean even compared her mom with mary.

charlie and sam's story seem to be the same to me.
charlie was hiding the truth from the boys. fear seemed to be what was driving her in this eppy. fear of losing her mom.

well, it's been my belief for awhile now that sam is hiding something from dean. what i've noticed in this eppy is how driven sam was. sam's been quite vocal to dean about him being alright...telli ng dean he can do it (the trials). no matter how crappy sam feels, he's not quitting..he wants to find kevin..he wants to do the last trial....

but in this eppy, sam was on maximum overdrive....he was not sitting this case out..there was just no stopping him...i haven't seen sam this driven since s4 and his need to kill lilith.

the last time sam felt this way was because of what lilith did to dean...and now, it appears to me that he's got that same need...only this time it's not to kill for dean... i believe it's to save him. i gotta tell you , i've thought it before , but after watching sam again this morning, these trials he so desperately wants to succeed in, aren't about him or his desire to have normal one day, ....i think the trials are all about dean, and sam's need to save his brother.. to do for him what he couldn't do when he thought dean died....

i still say, and it's jmo of course, that it's not so much that sam didn't look for dean as much as i think sam couldn't look for dean....it's my very strong belief, given what we've seen and heard by both meg and bobby, that something was very very wrong with sam after that night dean and cas vanished. i think sam had some kind of emotional breakdown. i think he's keeping it from his brother, for fear that dean will think him weak and a disappointment.

sam's fear is driving him to want to succeed, much like charlie's fear was driving her. i actually thought charlie furthered the sam's story...

i believe now, after what went down with charlie, that dean is more aware of sam's determination to do these trials. how can he not be ... i just got a sense, and it's probably just me, but i did get a sense that dean is more in tune with sam and he's coming to realize that it's more than just sam wanting to do them....it's about sam needing to do them...

after seeing the promo, i just got the feeling that we'll be hearing from sam soon...i think sam's condition is scaring dean to the point where he'll finally ask sam why it's so important to him to do these trials, why he's so willing to risk his health...i think then we'll get to hear the truth about sam...

i feel it's coming and i think this eppy was the fuse that lit the firecracker...

again, all of this is just my very strong feeling...

Quote:

How very handy that the bunker is a dead zone as far as being able to trace GPS. But a part of me wonders why that technology would be part of the bunker when GPS wasn't even invented until 1973, to say nothing of when it became commercially available.

I'm guessing a general concealment spell that doesn't allow the bunker to be traced by anything. Since the MOL traced history they had to realize that technology changes so whipping up a metaphorical invisibility cloak would make sense.

So... Charlie goes, to let her mom die... and Dean goes back home and understands, Sam might be dying as well.
But he isn´t dead yet.
Not yet.


Alright, lemme get like.. a ton of tissues here.

Was anyone else surprised to see how close to a town the bunker is? I guess I just assumed it was out in the middle of nowhere, the better to remain private.

Loved it. This one made me cry. When my 26 year old daughter was one month old my mother was dying of breast cancer , I laid my daughter next to her on the bed and in a morphine haze she thought it was me as a baby. I had to tell my mother that I loved her and not to worry about us as her mother was waiting for her. She died a day later. This episode struck such a nerve and memories. I loved how Felicia played Charlie and made it so personal for me. It was a lovely episode. Everyone was wonderful, it is all coming together. I am on vacation in Kauia and will look at my ocean view and my memories of my Mom. Peace

I really, really enjoyed this episode. It was so well paced and balanced and there was not one moment where I scratched my head in confusion or went, "wait a minute, that's not what we've heard in previous episodes...." this is how you expand on established lore without making the previous information obsolete or compromising past story lines! (Although, to be fair, the changes to Djinn lore were smaller and less complex than the changes to Reaper lore) still though, the changes made were explained and organic to the story.

Loved all the shout out's to past episodes; this has been happening all season long, but they were really well done here IMO (yeah.. John's journal!).

Although I tend to be more of a Sam girl (no, really, it's true) Dean looked beyond hot in that uniform; did anyone else think that it look very authentic? I wonder if that wasn't actually a costume and was in fact the real thing.. vintage. I'd love someone to ask that at one of the cons.

And why is sick, ailing, trial weakened Sam so incredibly hot? It's strange that he should look so good when he looks so bad... there's something wrong with me I think. That long sleeved v-neck T he was wearing at the start of the ep was drool worthy.

And I agree with some of the other posters about the filler/not filler debate; I suppose this was basically filleresque, yet it really did seem to be setting up ideas and tropes for the rest of the season; I was especially drawn to the conversation that Dean and Charlie had while in her dream about NOT playing the game. There were several War Game references in tonight's episode and that whole movie was about finding the wisdom of NOT doing the obvious thing; I wonder if the final trial will be in the realization that closing the gates of Hell is a bad idea and to not do it? Maybe the sacrifice is in sacrificing their ultimate end game? And maybe because he chooses NOT to complete the trials Sam will have to choose to die? I am terrible at speculation... Anyhoo. Enjoyed this episode very much.

Ardeospina, Great episode! Great review! You touched on so many of the things I loved.

I have a total guess on the filler placement within the season. With X-Files they would deliberately put MOTW episodes in between because some people did like the mythology as well (my brother being one of them, even with SPN) and some people only really liked mythology. So to try to work with both groups they would break them up. I think they had a lot less mythology ones though. It usually didn't have one central mythology story to be cleared up within the season though like SPN does.

I'm used to that format so it doesn't bother typically except when the season's storyline suffers, like it did last year and season 5 and now this year maybe too because last weeks could have easily been a two-parter.

But regardless this was a great episode.