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Supernatural: Taxi Driver

Sam: "If it's not Sam, how do I know about you and Tori Spelling?"

This episode gave us something terrific: satisfying closure for not just one, but two continuing characters.

When we lost our beloved Bobby for the second time, I assumed that a superlative hunter of evil who had saved countless lives would go directly to Heaven, and apparently, that's what would have happened if Crowley hadn't intervened. (The Winchesters really do need to subscribe to some kind of interdimensional newsletter so that they can keep up on these things.)

At any rate, rescuing Bobby from Hell as the focus of Sam's second Trial just felt wonderful to me. I had no idea Jim Beaver was coming back (although a random tweet a few weeks ago should have clued me in). And Sam got to take the scenic route through Purgatory and check out Dean's digs for the past year.

We've only gotten a couple of tiny glimpses of Hell up until this point, and I was looking forward to seeing more of it. And that was actually the most disappointing part of the episode – that all we saw was a creepy dark hallway and some dungeon-like cells. I was thinking that Hell has to be enormous (they have one bedrooms, don't they?) and how could Sam possibly find Bobby quickly without angelic assistance? Hell must be like Heaven and Purgatory, though, a multiverse sort of thingy where it seems small and limited and you only encounter people that relate to you. (Did Sam know that woman who was praying for him to come rescue her?)

I am now ready to take back all of the negative things I said about Benny. He came through for Dean in a great big way, proving he was worthy of Dean's faith in him. Even though Benny was having trouble dealing with the real world and felt more comfortable guilt-tripping in Purgatory, that was still a huge, honking favor. Benny's bones are still in the world, just in case they want to bring him back, and I'd be okay with that.

Of course, I'd also be okay if the Winchesters found a loophole to bring Bobby back. He's probably bitching about his digs in Heaven already.

At least Naomi was there to rescue Bobby and direct him to the right place. She also spent a significant amount of time acting all reasonable and sane and sucking up to Dean. After all of the grief he's experienced at the hands of angels, I doubt that Dean is going fall for that any time soon.

On to stressed out Kevin, whose mother died at Crowley's hands to protect him – except that her sacrifice was in vain. What's going to happen to the poor guy? Archangels are vicious and scary, and it sure would have been nice if one of them had been around to protect Kevin. Why didn't Naomi hang around just a tiny bit longer? I can't believe I just said that.

So much for figuring out the third trial. Maybe Kevin should have told Dean where the tablet is. Tell me again why Kevin and his mother weren't hiding in the Men of Letters bunker?

Bits and pieces:

— Reaper coyotes. Okay. It made sense that reapers could open the doors to Heaven and Purgatory. When I realized we were getting reapers again, I was hoping for Tess.

— It was sad that Bobby's form of torment was seeing the Winchesters possessed by demons, hundreds of times a day. Although that was probably better than playing with Alastair.

— Using his watch to mark the exit was smart of Sam.

— This week: Purgatory, Hell, 100 Mile Wilderness in Maine, wherever Garth's boat is which I used to know but have spaced out, and wherever they picked up the reaper coyote. (Loved the wall mural with the door.)


— The next episode will be on April 24. I wonder what new ailment Sam will be exhibiting by then?

Quotes:

Sam: "So what, they're like hell coyotes?"

Ajay: "Smuggling a mortal across the border is risky enough. But gatecrashing a Winchester into Hell? That seriously blows."

Kevin: "I'm going to be in my room. Let me know when there's a good day."
Dean: "That's my pie."

Crowley: "As you might recall, patience isn't one of my virtues. Well, I don't have any virtues. But if I did, I'm pretty sure patience wouldn't be one of them."

Crowley: "You're trying my non-patience."

Sam: "Okay, what about your free pedicure at the Mall of America? You made Dean swear not to tell another living soul how it changed your life."
Bobby: "Sam?"

Crowley: "Something is going on. My hellhound has been killed. Winchester Jumbo Size is trying to break into the mothership, and that prophet of theirs is madly translating away. Add it up!"

Bobby: "I know that agreement. I taught you that agreement. It's a non-agreement."

Four out of four autographed photos of Tori Spelling,

Billie
---
Billie Doux has been reviewing Supernatural for so long that Dean and Sam Winchester feel like old friends. Courageous, adventurous, gorgeous old friends.

17 comments:

  1. Tess is way too straight-laced to freelance, but I missed her as well. I kept thinking 'Gee, it sure is great that with all the millions (billions?) of demons and souls in hell, Sam stumbles across Bobby in a couple of minutes.'

    Did Crowley take Kevin? I was thinking he might have had some sort of breakdown and imagined the whole thing, then disappeared to God knows where. The boat was really neat when the boys found it, and the windows weren't broken. Didn't the windows supposedly break when Crowley showed up? Until we have confirmation, I'm going to blame Dean and his genius idea of over medicating a frightened teenage boy who happens to be a prophet. Largely because I don't want Mrs. Tran to be dead.

    I love the Buffy references you always manage to slip in to your reviews, Billie. They always make me smile. :)

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  2. Sunbunny, didn't you just start watching Supernatural a week ago? :) Yeah, Dan thought the same thing about Kevin, but I thought Crowley had him. I hope you're right and I'm wrong.

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  3. I hope Benny will somehow come back from Purgatory. I love Benny. He managed to give the Supernatural vampires some depth, which they were severely lacking. I also loved Dean bonding with someone else than Sam, Bobby and Cas. Plus, Benny's super-hot and has a great voice! :)

    And I'm actually glad that we haven't gotten Tessa as our reaper coyote. If we did, she would have been dead now. And I'd rather not see Tessa and know she's okay than see her die.

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  4. That's one of the good things about Supernatural, Jenne. Pretty much anyone can come back from the dead. :)

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  5. What a poorly, poorly executed episode. What should have been epic turned out to be very disappointing. It's like they tried to cram 2 episodes into one. They really messed up the history of this show so badly. That easy to get into purgatory and hell eh? It's too bad Crowley and Cas spent AN ENTIRE SEASON LOOKING FOR A WAY INTO PURGATORY!! Oh, and remember when Sam tried torturing a crossroads demon to rescue Dean out of hell? Oh you didn't remember that writers? One simple torture of another black actor (it's gotta be said, black actors don't fare very well on this show. I think Rufus was the only black guy that wasn't evil or didn't die right away) and viola! You got yourself a convenient Reaper coyote (on the mortal plane?) who can easily take you to purgatory.

    Luckily Sam took the easy way through purgatory. You know, it's not like Dean struggled there or anything. And that's so funny that the backdoor into hell happened to be right next to Bobby's cell. Cause we all know what a walk in a park hell is. Very nice of that lone demon to be in a human body too. And it's great that purgatory is so easy to navigate. Benny found Sam in like a minute. And the portal just happened to be a few feet away. And Dean managed to telepot to the Maine woods in just a few hours. I just loved how easy everything was this episode :)

    1 out of 4 conveniently located hell prisons.

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  6. Billie,

    I have never posted before but have read you for years.I have absolutely loved the past few episodes and was so disappointed when you didn't and I worried you had lost love for our show (and our boys).

    I am glad you enjoyed this week's episode as much as I did. I understand that many are upset about the continuity, history and sometimes the things that don't make common sense with this show. But after 8 years I have decided to just go along for the ride and enjoy it for what it is.

    I was super excited and surprised that Bobby was back. So glad they kept that a secret. The grin on my face was huge!

    But my absolute favorite part of the whole episode were the scenes between Dean and Benny. Jensen and Ty did a great job of showing us how tortured they were about the situation. Benny-not being able to adjust, knowing he would stay in Purgatory and knowing that he would disappoint Dean because he did. And Dean-so damaged and closed off, finally finding another member to join his family member (like Bobby and Cas) and then having to ask him to make such a sacrifice. You could feel the pain in that scene. And that is why I love this show!

    Before I go, I wanted to mention that I do not think Crowley got Kevin, or that Kevin went off the deep end by taking off (although he is definitely losing it). The boat was protected from Demons but not Angels (as we saw Naomi pop in to talk to Dean). I think it was Naomi playing with Kevin's mind and making him think she was Crowley. Crowley spent most of the episode frustrated becasue he couldn't find Kevin and didn't know what the Winchesters were up to. So if he was in Kevin's mind he would have known where he was and what was going on.

    Naomi is not to be trusted and if Dean does, well, I will be sorely disappointed in my main hunter:)

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  7. I really like that theory, Anon. When I saw the windows weren't shattered at the end, I was thinking Kevin bugged out, but you are right that Naomi very pointedly noted that the boat wasn't warded against angels. And she is absolutely not to be trusted, even if she did allow Bobby's soul to ascend. (I wonder though, as Bobby did, if Supernatural Heaven is really all that wonderful these days.)

    I was really bothered by how easily Sam located Bobby and how easily they escaped, but I was simultaneously so thrilled to actually see Bobby that I let it slide. And apparently I was audibly reacting to things through the whole episode --- when it was over, the hubby actually asked me what had happened, because I'd been making so much noise --- so I must have been pretty engaged throughout. I was never happy about about Bobby lingering on as a ghost after his fantastic death episode, but I'm glad to know that his soul isn't being tortured in hell. Even if this trial ended up feeling relatively easy. :)

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  8. Loved this ep, Billie. Felt sad for the loss of Bennie, glad Bobby went to heaven--but will Naomi use him to force Sam and Dean to do what she wants now that she has him up there to use for leverage? I don't trust that angel; she messed with Castiel! I think Kevin lost his Crowley-addled mind and both he and Mama Tran are both ok. I hope so. I fear for what this second trial is going to do to Sam physically. Is he turning into a supernatural being and his body is rejecting it? I wonder. The next ep looks meh to me. I want Cas to come back. Love, Robin

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  9. I also think that Crowley doesn't have Kevin and he's just gone crazy from overwork. Demons aren't known for cleaning up after themselves.

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  10. I like Anon's angel theory. Naomi did very pointedly say that the boat was not angel proofed.

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  11. Harlem Shake anyone?

    I'd been waiting for that crossroads to show up and laughed out loud when I saw it.


    I wanted to comment on the "finding purgatory to easily" problem that some viewers had; I saw it like this- Nobody new where purgatory was, (the whole point to season 6) and thanks to Eve, Cas and Crowley they all know where it is now. Dean even knows where the human portal spits out people (Maine).
    Now that it has located for a while, I wasn't surprised that a rogue reaper might know where it's portal is and developed a portal for his personal use and gain.

    As far as the backdoor, demons go and stay in hell, monsters go and stay in purgatory. I don't think they can just jump through that rabbit hole, even if they wanted to do so. It made sense to me.

    Just my two cents...
    peace out

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  12. That's a really good theory about the angels getting to Kevin!!

    I mean, Naomi did tell Crowley that she would deal with the angel tablet issue... maybe she'll learn the third trial from Kevin and hold it the knowledge hostage until Dean finds Cas and the angel tablet and turns them over to her... putting demons away have always been priority numero uno for these Winchester boys.

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  13. I was so pleased to see Bobby again that I let all the other stuff go, although I must admit that the ease with which this trial was completed bothered me a bit.

    I, too, like the angel theory. I was really puzzled about what happened to Kevin, but Naomi having a hand in it all really makes sense.

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  14. I really liked the episode and it always bugged how they never seemed to let Bobby go (the first time he died was wonderful and I din´t want him back as a ghost but oh well) but this time was great and it felt like closure.
    I also wanted another episode regarding Purgatory and so I was pleased.
    Not really sure what´s gonna happen now.

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  15. I was talk with someone about Dante's Divine Comedy early today (in a supermarket of all places) and about halfway through the conversation I realised that this episode is the same story stripped down to the bare essentials - a man travels through the afterlife, going from hell to purgatory before finally arriving in heaven.

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  16. Is Kevin's Mom really dead. I hope not. :(

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