Lle Llywela

You know, with this year being as manic as it has been, it feels like the longest time since I've either had the time or the inclination for any of my writing projects. But after finishing that recap last week, I've been in the mood for writing again, and it has felt good. I've also had a few evenings to myself, for once, and so have been able to indulge. So, I've made a start on the beginnings of a new Pros recap and even dabbled with the beginnings of a fic I've had notes for for...well, longer than I'm willing to admit, actually. I've also pushed on with the next of my outstanding SN recaps, which will probably be the next thing completed if only because all the structure, transcription and meta notes are now already in place just waiting to be written up properly - it's further along than anything else and so easiest to complete.

But because When The Levee Breaks is so heartbreakingly intense, to give myself a break from it, I've pulled together a very quick list of love for an old episode - season one's Route 666, which was next on the list. It's been so long since I did one of these, I'd forgotten how much fun it was!

You can either read it here, behind the cut, or if LJ is being wonky you can also find it over at my website, here.

Rather a lot of Things I Love about Route 666

You might not have thought there would be that many things to love about Route 666, this episode not being a big fan favourite and all, but you'd be wrong. There is a lot to love about this episode. The trick is not to worry too much about the plot.

This list actually is more or less in chronological order, for once. It is also rather image-heavy because…pretty! ♥

1. Well, I think we can all take it for granted that I love Dean. Rather a lot, in fact. Gruff, long-suffering and oh-so protective older brother, tender and very sexy lover, highly skilled albeit reckless hunter, brash but caring, cocky yet insecure, loyal, impulsive, inarticulate, generous to a fault…there are many, many facets to Dean, and I love 'em all. ♥


2. I also love Sam, who is so very, very Sammy in this episode, every inch the baby brother, full of exuberance and glee. ♥


But even if the plot does leave a thing or two to be desired, there is more to love about this episode than just the boys (although, okay, mostly them!)

3. I love how ridiculous the racist ghost truck is. I really do. It takes a lot of effort to be that ridiculous. I love how it flexes the shoulders it doesn't have and growls that throaty engine roar and does everything in its power to look big and mean and tough. It makes me laugh and laugh.
Yeah, that's probably not the reaction the truck was hoping for!

4. I love that even before we know who Dean is talking to, we can tell that it is serious because the conversation has made him look like this:
That's not a happy face, that's a worried face, a 'crap, I'm going to have to face up to something difficult and probably painful, right in front of Sammy, as well, and there's no getting out of it' face.


5. I love that Sam was completely oblivious to his brother's telephone conversation, despite being only a couple of feet away, because he was so very engrossed in his intricate route planning. Sam takes being navigator very seriously, clearly. He is so adorably confused to hear that their plans have changed, he doesn't even notice his brother's subdued mood.


6. I love how determinedly Dean tries to play nonchalant as he explains to Sam why their plans have changed. He's in full blown self protection mode, acting casual as hard as he can, trying to convince both Sam and himself that it's no big deal.
"Believe me, she never would've called, never, if she didn't need us." Yeah, and if he didn't believe that she needed him, Dean never would have gone back there, but Dean can't turn his back on anyone he once cared about, and he can't turn his back on people in need. There is no way he can't go to check if this is for real, however reluctant he is to face up to the past.

7. I love how gleefully Sam endeavours to extract information from Dean about this girl he once dated, utterly amazed at the idea of his brother having had an actual girlfriend in the first place. He seems to have always taken Dean's more usual love 'em and leave 'em tomcat habits very much for granted, never questioning why or expecting anything more, and never thinking to look beneath the surface for anything Dean might be hiding. He had bought into the image completely, so that Cassie comes as quite the surprise.
This episode makes for a nice progression following on from Faith, in which Sam came face to face with his brother's mortality. Here he begins to see that Dean can also be emotionally vulnerable, however hard he might try to hide it. A large part of Sam's personal arc through season one revolves around getting to know his brother again, after their lengthy estrangement. The Sam who left for Stanford was little more than an angry child still, while Dean was already an adult – an adult who had helped to raise him, moreover. The Sam who has returned to the road in season one still tends to view his brother through the eyes of that younger self more often than not. He is learning, though, getting to know Dean as a fellow adult – one who is not as invulnerable or indestructible as Sam once believed, but who thinks and feels and hopes and dreams and is capable both of falling in love and of being hurt.
We have never before seen Sam in such persistent good humour as he displays in this episode – and never will again – starting with his relentless teasing of Dean in this scene. He is still basking in the glow of the miracle that saved his brother's life in the last episode, rejoicing in the sheer fact of having Dean alive and with him still.
Dean, on the other hand, is subdued throughout the episode, maybe partly due to the high price that was paid for his miraculous cure in Faith, which hung heavy on his shoulders in that episode, and maybe partly due to the circumstances of this case, which call for him to face up to a painful incident from his past – in front of his little brother, even. He tolerates Sam's teasing with long-suffering humour while stoically resisting his brother's urging for him to tell all, denying nothing that Sam guesses but volunteering the bare minimum of information only. This is the Dean of season one, who is accustomed to bottling up all his hurts because he has no one to confide them in, who sees Sam as his baby brother and his responsibility rather more than best friend and confidant. He hasn't learned yet that it is okay to share his burdens with his brother, that it doesn't hurt to let Sam see him vulnerable from time to time.
They have both come such a long way since this episode!

8. Sam's amusement vanishes pretty swiftly the moment he realises that Dean must have told this girl everything about what they do, and this reaction is especially poignant because he isn't really angry with Dean for telling the truth so much as himself for never coming clean to Jessica, resenting Dean's honesty for the negative light it casts back on Sam's own behaviour.
We know from Bloody Mary that Sam believes he could have saved Jessica's life, if only he'd been honest, but he could never bring himself to do it – keeping his two worlds completely separate was too important to him, and he was too afraid of how she might react. Theirs was a committed, long-term relationship – they were living together, and Sam was planning to propose – and yet it was founded on dishonesty and lies of omission. No wonder it smarts to hear that Dean told everything to a girl he claims he only dated for a couple of weeks. It is another sign of the brothers' fundamental difference in personality and approach, that simple fact of Dean telling Cassie who he was and facing the consequences while Sam always hid the truth about his past from Jessica.
It is too early in the episode for Sam to understand the truth of what happened back then, or what was going on in his brother's head. Dean isn't talking about it, so at this stage Sam has no way to comprehend the significance of the relationship, or that telling the truth resulted only in pain and rejection. Sam is still locked in that mindset of equating Dean with casual affairs only; he was startled enough to learn that there had been a girl his brother went out with more than once – just how much she meant to Dean, even the possibility that she might have meant anything truly serious at all, is something he still has to learn. Thus, this reaction to the news of Dean's honesty to Cassie is founded rather more on Sam's misconceptions of his brother and his own issues than pure disapproval of the choice Dean made back then.

9. You know, Cassie really is beautiful, but wow is she a cold fish! She just shows no sign whatsoever that she is grieving for her very recently deceased father, and I wonder if maybe a different actress might have made the role more sympathetic. After all, she clearly meant a lot to Dean – I really would like to like her more than I do!
If we look past the weak acting and questionable writing to the core of the character, though, we can just about see what the writers were trying to do with her. From the moment we first see her, it is clear that Cassie is far from being just another random bimbo that Dean picked up along the road. As well as being beautiful, she is feisty, intelligent and independent. She doesn't seem to have the fun-loving and caring, almost maternal side to her personality that we later see in other women that Dean connects with, but still she tells us something of what he really looks for in a woman, when he isn't restricting himself to strictly casual one-night stands with whoever is willing and available. And, of course, we are catching her at a bad time.

10. Seeing Cassie again puts this look on Dean's face.
We see that little half smile a few times during this episode, a wistful combination of fondness and sadness, the smile never touching his eyes. It's all about what once was, what once could have been, and what will now never be. And, you know, Cassie might be a cold fish, but this awkward initial reunion scene does at least manage to convey a real sense of the uncomfortable history between them.
And I love the way Sam stands there like a total third wheel, all the subtext going completely over his head and deeply amused to see his ever-cool big brother looking so awkward and wrong-footed in front of a girl – but also just starting to get inklings that maybe there's more to this than he first assumed.


Skipping right on past Cassie's really bad acting, not to mention the really clumsy exposition she gets lumbered with …

11. I love the way Cassie just bustles around making the brothers a cup of tea each (casually dropping sugar cubes in without asking) just because it is such a revealing little moment.
Dean doesn't drink tea. He's a coffee man, through and through, likes it straight: black and unsweetened. And Cassie dated him. If she really knew him at all, she would know that about him. So, maybe it's a sign of her grief manifesting, the way she just bustles around keeping busy without stopping to actually ask her guests what they want or to remember what Dean's preferences are. Still, the minor negligence stands symbolic of the likelihood that maybe she never really made the effort at all to find out who Dean really is.
So, I love the way Dean just frowns at the cup he's been handed, as if it offends him, and then sets it aside without drinking, not saying a word, while Sam happily sips away at his.


12. "Sceptical. Yeah, if I remember, I think you said it was nuts."
Aww, Dean. I love that although his resigned bitterness over Cassie's rejection of him shines through, he tries hard to make light of it, because that's just who he is: happy-go-lucky exterior masking seriously repressed emotions!
This episode, the story of Dean's abortive relationship with Cassie, gives us valuable and rare backstory that tells us something of why Dean is who he is. He cared enough to tell her the truth, wanted her to know all of him rather than just the public persona, and she rejected him for it, that's the bottom line, and that experience stands as one of the reasons he is the tomcat that he is – casual flings mean no possibility of rejection, which means no one gets hurt. It feeds into the anti-social attitude Sam accused him of back in Skin, his belief that 'in a job like this, you can't get close to people, period,' because any attempt always either means lying or rejection. Dean is a social animal by nature, but his lifestyle leaves him horribly isolated, and Cassie helps us to understand the impact this has on him.
I also love that although Cassie hurt him badly, more than he wants to admit, he hasn't held it against her. He still came when she needed him, because she needed him, and for no better reason than that. That, too, tells us clearly who this man is.

13. It makes me sad that Cassie introduces Dean to her mother as a friend from college, instead of acknowledging him as an old boyfriend, distancing herself from the relationship they once had rather than attempting to explain.
Poor Dean. It's got to sting a little.


14. I love that Cassie introduces the brothers to the mayor using their real names. That doesn't happen often, not least because real names make them dangerously traceable. It's also interesting to note that this means she knows Dean by his real name. He was being himself from the moment they first met, clearly, rather than operating under any assumed persona or identity.


15. I absolutely adore the scene of the brothers donning their best suits at the motel.
I love that these are the same suits we saw them acquire back in Phantom Traveler, no doubt the only suit either one possesses. And I love the way the conversation is so niftily woven around the action in the scene as they finish dressing – action dialogue always feels so much more natural than static.
"What's interesting is you guys never really look at each other at the same time. You look at her when she's not looking, she checks you out when you look away…." Heh. I love the way Sam so shamelessly and gleefully fishes for more information about Dean's relationship with Cassie, and how Dean so grumpily stonewalls him, evading any direct answers.
Of course, I'd like it even more if we had actually got to see any of those stolen glances Sam refers to there – come on, Show, show, don't tell! But still, Sam's irrepressible babbling is endlessly entertaining, while his glee is a wonder to behold, and Dean's grouchy why weren't you drowned at birth? glares are fabulous.
Also, this angle looks really good on Dean.
"It's just an interesting observation. In a, you know, observationally interesting way." Hee! All in all, it's a fantastically amusing scene, wonderfully drool-worthy. This episode is such an important step in the brothers' getting-to-know-you-again process.


16. Forget about the awkward civics lesson and history of race relations we get shoved down our throat in this scene. What's important is that I love when the boys wear suits. ♥ I especially love how Sam always carries his off so well, whereas Dean always manages to make his look scruffy!


17. I love that although Dean stands a solid 6'1" tall, the giant Sam still always manages to make him look short.


18. We aren't going to worry at all about minor details such as clunky exposition or imprecise renderings of popular urban or maritime legends. The brothers look absolutely fabulous as they discuss the case while strolling along the docks back to the Impala, all suited up and smart. ♥
Also, I miss the days when the brothers figured things out together, by themselves, instead of relying on angels and demons to spoon-feed them the exposition.

19. "Oh, and you might also want to mention that other thing […] The serious unfinished business." Heh, I love how unsubtle Sam is with his little segue there from case business to personal business. He just wants to know what's going on with Dean and Cassie, and little hints and digs weren't working, so he comes right out with it! Come on, Dean, no fair keeping secrets from nosy baby brothers…


20. Actually, I love that entire conversation. I love the way Sam endeavours to read between the lines of what Dean isn't saying, and the way Dean mostly just allows his silence to speak for itself.
"Would you stop? Blink or something!" I love the way Sam stares his brother down until he gets at least some kind of confirmation of his deductions, while Dean surrenders as little information as he can get away with, but doesn't actually shut Sam down.
I love the way Sam vacillates between smirking, giggling and enjoying watching his brother squirm over being made to discuss his feelings for an ex-girlfriend, and sympathising with Dean's obvious regret over what happened back then. Although, you know, Sam's laughing at his brother isn't really all that appropriate, given that it clearly wasn't and isn't any kind of joke to Dean. But this is all new territory to Sam, the whole idea of Dean having a serious relationship and being in love, and it is every little brother's prerogative to mock his elder brother's attempts at romance. And just lookit those dimples!
"Oh, wow. She dumped you." I love how shocked Sam is at the realisation that the relationship did not end by Dean's choice. That was a possibility that really, really had not occurred to him – he automatically assumed it must have been the other way around, because Dean always moves on and leaves his conquests behind, that's how it works. Talk about shattering his illusions! Dean so carefully cultivates his image as the incorrigibly flirtatious playboy stud who plays the field as hard as he can, loves 'em and leaves 'em and never looks back, and Sam has never questioned it before, never looked beyond the surface to what lies behind.
"And I told her the secret, about what we do, and I shouldn't have."
"No, look, man, everybody's gotta open up to someone, sometime."
"Yeah, I don't. It was stupid to get that close, and look how it ended."
Oh, Dean.
Aww, Dean is so uncomfortable with the entire conversation. He just is not used to letting Sam see something that matters to him like this, is deeply uncomfortable with allowing any sign of vulnerability to be visible. He can't just come out and tell Sam exactly what happened between him and Cassie, so Sam is left largely to his own suppositions and never gets the full story. But Dean does at least allow his brother to have the conversation, up to a certain point, anyway. It is progress, of a sort.


Okay, so that was a pretty long point, no? See, there's a lot to love in this episode!

21. Right, so there's that scene where Dean goes to see Cassie at her mother's house – and who knows where the mother actually is while all this is going on – and it's kind of annoying because it's rather clumsily written, and Cassie is a cold fish who still shows no sign whatsoever of grief for her very recently deceased father, and there's not a huge amount of chemistry between the actors. But what matters is that I love when Dean lounges attractively against the wall like this:
♥
Also, it is kinda cute when Cassie goes and stands opposite, matching his position.
Plus we get another instance of that wistful little half-smile of his, that look of sad, weary resignation he can't quite hide that keeps cropping up in this episode – it's a look that says Dean thinks he should have known better than to think he could ever have anything good in his life that was just for him, or that anyone would ever love him for who he really is. Oh, Dean.
It's interesting that Dean is the one who raises the subject of them in the first place – taking Sammy's advice, there – only to drop it again like a hot potato when it all gets a bit too much (for which, read: almost immediately). Cassie's got him bang to rights when she calls him on his tendency to shy away from anything deep and meaningful. "Anywhere in the neighbourhood of emotional vulnerability, you back off. Or make some joke, or find any way to shut the door." Oh yeah, he so does, especially at this stage of the show.
No matter how clunky the writing and weak the acting, I really enjoy the insight this conversation and the history of the relationship in general gives us into Dean – specifically, into Dean during the years Sam was away at Stanford. Reading between the lines, and bearing in mind what we've learned from other episodes (the Pilot told us that Dean started hunting alone while Sam was away, for example, and Jump The Shark told us that John would take off to visit his secret son Adam, leaving Dean by himself) it seems clear that Dean was pretty damn lonely. Sam had severed all contact, and John just wasn't there for his remaining son either physically or emotionally, and Dean was all alone, desperate for someone to connect with. He reached out to Cassie because he so badly needed companionship and affection and, hell, just someone to talk to, needed someone to understand him and care about him.
Cassie isn't right for him, and I doubt she ever was, but she was in the right place at the right time, and the rest is history.


22. Snogging…stripping….
Don't think too hard about the clumsy build-up or lack of chemistry. Just enjoy the view! Dean sans layers...

23. Say what you like about Cassie, she does at least show us what Dean is like with a woman he really cares about, and what we see is a gentle and tender lover – a far cry from that rough-and-ready, devil-may-care tomcat image of his!
Dean's naked back. Dean's naked shoulders. Dean's naked chest…. Oh, right, and there's Cassie, too. Yeah, this scene is all about the character insight. Not at all about the acres of bare flesh on display….
Okay, okay, I give in. Let us just have ourselves a silent little montage with which to fully appreciate the moment.


24. Oh, and the morning after scene isn't hard on the eyes, either.
What? There's dialogue as well as skin? Oh, okay, then.
Although, you know, it's kinda hard to concentrate on serious character analysis when Cassie's lying there playing with Dean's nipple…
Okay, I'm back. Right, so, please note: this is Mr One Night Stand himself, and here he is not just snuggling the morning after, but actually talking about their issues as a putative couple, no evasion and no avoidance. "Hey, I tried. I mean, I told you who I really was. That's a big first for me." Yeah, and he got his fingers well and truly burned by it, too, learned his lesson good and proper – and it's not like he didn't have an abandonment complex already.
Also, it interests me that Dean refers to hunting as his dad's work, quite specifically – he doesn't usually make that distinction, but rather embraces this career path as very much his own.
The upshot of the conversation, really, though, is that even before Dean scared Cassie away by telling her the truth, he was more committed to their relationship than she was, and although she still cares about him and is attracted to him (and honestly, who wouldn't be?) he isn't what she is looking for, long-term. She even admits that she was already looking for an excuse to walk away. Cassie is settled, a career girl looking to the future, while Dean's circumstances haven't changed: he lives on the road and tries not to think any further ahead than today. This one night of make-up sex changes nothing; everything that first divided them still remains, Cassie's newfound acceptance of the truth notwithstanding.


25. I love that when Dean arrives at the latest crime scene, Sam just casually waves him past the assorted police officers, all "he's with me," and they just accept that completely. I love that we are not told what kind of fake identity Sam used to gain this access to the scene. We don't need to know. It is enough to see that it has worked, and has the cops eating out of his hand!
I also love how much it is snowing, because this was filmed in Canada in late winter, even though the episode is set in Missouri in late spring. That just kinda tickles me.
But more than anything about this scene, I love how gleefully Sam teases Dean about spending the night with Cassie, and I love how gruff Dean gets as he tries to shut him up. Sam is so very much the baby brother in this episode! It kills me because you just know that when it comes to casual one night stands Dean is absolutely the type who would happily report back to his brother with a blow-by-blow account of every detail, not least so he could watch Sam squirm. But actual affairs of the heart are very different, which puts the shoe on the other foot entirely, so to speak, means that Sam gets to be the one making Dean squirm.
On top of all that, I love when Sam makes faces like this.
Oh, season one Sam, you really are a ginormous dork and I miss you rather a lot, actually.

26. You know, I kinda like the way Cassie is pretty much all over Dean, completely in his space, and he doesn't seem to mind or even really notice, as they research together at the newspaper offices – just because it feels real, lends weight to the concept of this intimate relationship they have, however complicated (not to mention dead end) said relationship might be.
Plus, it is really very sensible of them to go work at her office and make use of that resource, since it is available. Dean is nothing if not practical. Not to mention how much I like seeing Dean using a computer and demonstrating that he can hold his own in the research department.
I like how between them, with Sam off by himself digging around, and Dean using Cassie's desk and computer at the office, they manage to piece the story together – most of it, anyway. I miss the brothers working jobs like this.
Sam off doing the footwork is just adorable, bumbling along trying to leaf through his notes without dropping the phone. Hard to believe this awkward, gangly and oh-so earnest youngster will one day be an Incredible Hulk able to kill demons with his brain without so much as breaking a sweat!
Sam says a name that Cassie had mentioned previously, Dean remembers also reading it in an article during his research, and he puts the pieces together. Win! I love Smart!Dean!
Also, Dean just looks really good in this scene.


27. So, the scene where they all interrogate Cassie's mother to fill in the blanks of the story is kind of a long and clunky scene for pure exposition, no?
And boy is that some monologue Mrs Robinson has to deliver, even if it is broken up slightly by the flashbacks. Credit to the actress, though – she sells it as hard as she can.
But what matters here is how good it is to see Sam being Mr Puppy Eyes Extraordinaire – I'd almost forgotten how adorable his sympathy and sincerity routine was back in the days when he really meant it.
And also how good it is to see Dean being protective enough not to care if he isn't tactful – classic Dean, that – and again pouncing on fragments of information that add to what he already knows to build a picture. We're told so often that Sam is the brains of the outfit, it's easy to forget how good Dean is at what he does, how sharp and intuitive a detective he can be.


28. I really, really love that scene where the brothers sit against the Impala outside Cassie's house and take stock.
I love Sam's rueful little chuckle as he quips, "My life was so simple. Just school. Exams. Papers on polycentric cultural norms," and I love how hesitant Dean is as he tries to join in with, "So, I guess I saved you from a boring existence," because Stanford is a touchy subject, not something they usually even talk about, never mind joke about, and Dean still isn't sure where they really stand on it. But Sam made it a joke, so Dean continues that joke rather than confront the difficult topic openly – it's exactly the avoidance of emotional vulnerability Cassie accused him of.
It doesn't help that Sam immediately, wryly says, "Yeah, occasionally I miss boring," and yeah, he really must do, and I love the progression we're seeing in Sam here, because he can make light of his situation now, he has accepted that he is going to be back on the road for the foreseeable future rather than it being strictly temporary with a definite end in sight. That was his choice and he has come to terms with it, to the point where he can joke about it, but the regret he expresses here is very genuine and shows us how much he still misses the security and normality of the life he left behind, something he doesn't often make known. So for Dean this is an intensely uncomfortable topic to be touching on, because a Sam who talks openly about missing Stanford is a Sam who might someday decide to ditch Dean and go back to the safe, normal life he'd built for himself there, which is something Dean is just not prepared to face up to. Especially since this whole case has rubbed his face in the way that people who want to pursue normal lives inevitably tend to reject him and his.
So Dean opts for that other tactic of avoiding emotional vulnerability that Cassie mentioned earlier: he backs off completely and tries to change the subject, "All right, so, this killer truck –" whereupon Sam just laughs out loud. "I miss conversations that didn't start with 'this killer truck'." Which – hee! But even as I'm laughing at the one-liner, my heart is breaking ever so slightly over the way Dean waits for Sam to laugh first before joining in, because he isn't completely sure it's a joke; it's Sam expressing regrets about the life they lead, which is scarier than any killer truck because of where it might lead. Oh, Dean.
We're still very early in the show's history here, so that Dean's deep-seated insecurity is only just beginning to become truly apparent. It shines through loud and clear in this scene, though, when you go back and look for it with the benefit of hindsight.
And you really have to feel bad for that other life Sam worked so hard to build for himself but has now lost, especially knowing that he will never get it back, can never be that person again. Oh, Sam.
I also love how resigned both brothers are to the grossness of the idea of having to dredge a corpse out of a swamp so they can salt and burn it.
All in all, awww, just lookit the two of them: sitting side by side reflecting on the weirdness of their lives, what with the racist ghost trucks and corpse exhumation and all. Looking back from the vantage point of post-season four, I miss that fraternal solidarity!


Wow, that was another really long point!

29. I love how Sam laughs at Dean behind his back watching him talking with Cassie, while Dean squirms over having to have this private conversation in front of his little brother.
Sam is still just so damn amused by the whole concept of Dean and girlfriend in the same sentence.
And I love how Dean then gets his own back by keeping Sam waiting while he takes his sweet time kissing her.
Brothers! It's like they're 12 and 16 all over again!

30. I love that Dean is the one who drives the tractor to haul the truck out of the swamp, with Sam giving directions, because that is so them: Dean's physical to Sam's cerebral.
And I love that Sam is still laughing at Dean about Cassie, because it is a little brother's prerogative to tease his big brother mercilessly over affairs of the heart. And that Dean just tolerates the teasing with long-suffering good humour. Because, you know, since Dean never actually does open up enough to explain the whole sorry mess to Sam in any actual detail, Sam is at liberty to tease as much as he likes.


31. I love how the brothers are both so very grossed out by the corpse, because they might deal with them on a regular basis, but that doesn't mean they have to enjoy it.
I enjoy that reaction enough that I can completely overlook the logistical improbability of them managing to acquire a tractor, locate a truck that has been submerged for 40 years, haul it out of the swamp without getting wet, and then find that the corpse is still this intact.

32. I love a good old fashioned salt and burn.
Even if it doesn't, you know, actually destroy the spirit.


33. I love that Dean's first instinct when he sees the truck bearing down on them is to lure the thing away from his brother, so that Sam and danger are removed from the vicinity of one another. It's so very Dean. He has no plan for what to do after that, or for how to escape from the very grave danger he's now landed himself in, he just leaves that problem squarely in Sam's lap, and I love how completely he trusts that his brother will be able to find a solution before it's too late.
I also love Sam's exasperated reaction, both at Dean's propensity for putting himself in danger out of sheer reckless over-protectiveness, and at being landed with the responsibility for having to fix this all by himself.


34. I don't care how ludicrous the racist ghost truck is, I love seeing the Impala locked into a high speed chase with it, allowing Dean to show off his supremely awesome driving skills, all screeching brakes and squealing tyres.
I love the air of tension the scene manages to generate, with Dean increasingly frantic because he can't outrun the thing, yelling at Sam down the phone while steering left-handed and fuming over damage to his oh so beloved car as it is rammed.
I love that Sam just hangs up on Dean in the middle of the chase, so he can check his facts, because that is just so very Sam. He's single-minded, he's driven and he is ruthlessly practical when he has his mind set on a particular goal. Getting the details right might save Dean's life, but meaningless reassurances won't, so he makes an executive decision and hangs up, just like that, leaving Dean gob-smacked, panic-stricken and running out of time.
I love that when Sam gets back to Dean, instead of wasting valuable time trying to explain the plan he's come up with, he just gets right down to business, giving his brother directions without telling him why, demanding blind faith and no arguments. That's also very Sam. It's a trait he gets from his father.
I love that Sam's directions sound easy to follow in theory, but in practice, with a killer truck bearing down, are anything but, and that Dean has to pull off all kinds of nifty manoeuvres to make the turns Sam is ordering while simultaneously endeavouring not to be run off the road!
I love this very practical demonstration of how absolutely Dean trusts his little brother, as he holds position on the exact spot Sam has directed him to, staring imminent death right in the face as the killer truck comes speeding toward him, but holding his nerve, just because Sam assured him that this would work and he trusts his little brother.
Ohh, those are some very nifty special effects as the truck smashes through gates that aren't there any more and then vanishes at the exact second that it hits the Impala, disappearing in a puff of smoke. Yeah, and I'm not going to comment on the fact that there is a road running right through the derelict (but not demolished) ruins of a church. It makes no sense. Just accept that and move on.
But honestly, Sam, honestly – you couldn't have directed Dean to wait just past the remains of the church, so that the truck would have to drive through the site to get to him and thus keep a little distance between him and his imminent demise? Instead of having him sit at the very edge of the site? You know, so he wouldn't be in danger of another heart attack, what with the thing vanishing at the very moment of impact and all – or even of it not dissolving until it got further in, so that Dean and the Impala might still be smashed to bits? Talk about cutting it fine!


35. I love that Sam is so anxious when it is all over, but that Dean has dropped his phone and is at first too busy wondering where the truck went to reassure him that the plan has worked. Sam deserves the wait after what he just put his brother through!
And I love that Dean calls Sam on his use of the word 'maybe'. "What if you were wrong?"
And that Sam pulls this face as he admits that the possibility he might be wrong honestly hadn't occurred to him. You know, because it was only his brother's life on the line, and all. Again, it's so very Sam. He makes up his mind and he goes for it without hesitation or deviation, no second-guessing or doubt.
And then Dean is utterly incredulous, and still kinda shaky from the adrenaline rush of the near miss, and he just hangs up without another word so he can sit there fuming that his brother staked his life on a maybe. And it is brotherly and fabulous and I love it.


36. I love that Dean gets to say a proper goodbye to Cassie this time, and that it is such a bittersweet moment, because as goodbyes go it might be a hell of a lot better than last time, and yet still remains wistful, because it is all about what will never be.
Dean so badly wants to believe in a future in which he and Cassie can stay in touch and maybe see each other from time to time, because she understands the truth now, and he has so very few people in his life and craves meaningful human contact. He wants her for what she represents to him. But Cassie sees only that they can never work as a couple, long-term, and wants to move on with her life. It is so poignant, the way she says goodbye and means forever, while Dean refuses to say the same, insists on "I'll see you, I will," because he so wants it to be true. He needs a little hope in his life. Oh, Dean.
I love that Sam waits so patiently in the car, and that he looks so thoughtful, because this case has shown him a side of his brother that he never knew existed and it's not lost on him. He wants to understand Dean better. And, you know, I also love that that Sam is driving, which he doesn't often get to do!
nd I love watching Dean kiss. It's okay, I can admit it.


37. "I like her." Oh, Sam. I love how readily he offers approval of his brother's paramour, especially after all the teasing.
It's too late, of course, because they've already left town and will most likely never go back, but it is a valiant opening salvo. In spite of all the teasing, Sam has seen that seeing Cassie again has hit Dean fairly hard, whether he wants to admit it or not, and now that it is over is trying to find a way to talk to him about it, reaching out with awkward expressions of understanding and solidarity, and I love him for it.
"You meet someone like her, ever make you wonder if it's worth it? Putting everything else on hold, doing what we do?" Oh, Sam. It's a question he asks himself all the time, of course it is. One of the reasons he ran off to Stanford was because he believed it wasn't worth it, and for as long as he had Jessica in his life he would never have considered coming back to this permanently. Now for the first time he sees that his brother has had to make similar choices.
But Dean chose differently than Sam. That fact really speaks for itself. He doesn't consider his life to be on hold – this is his life, and he told Cassie the truth because he wanted to share it with her, not give it up for her. His reasons for staying on the road are a lot stronger than any potential motivations for settling down. Does he ever regret that choice? Well, if he does, he's not about to admit it.
And there's that wistful little half-smile again.
I love that Dean doesn't answer Sam's question, and that his avoidance of the subject here ties in with the evasive maneouvres Cassie expressed frustration with earlier. He has begun to open up to Sam a little more than he used to, perhaps, but is still a long way off being comfortable with the thought of baring his soul to his little brother. Emotional vulnerability remains something to be avoided at all costs.
"Wake me up when it's my turn to drive."


Yes, there was a lot to love about this episode!