"I'd take our family over normal any day."

[llywela]

Has to be said – this one is not a fave. The bugs are icky, the timeline is up the spout in places, and the plot isn't what you'd call coherent. It's worth watching for the boys, though, giving us another glimpse into those deep-seated family issues they've got. Although the episodes so far have been consistently standalone, each case-of-the-week they've faced has managed to dig a little deeper into the family Winchester and how they each became who they are today.

So. Oasis Plains, Oklahoma, is under construction. Gas company worker Dustin has a nasty shock when the ground gives way beneath him and he falls into a sinkhole. While his buddy Travis dashes off to find a rope – and completely fails to yell for help from any of the construction guys working nearby – Dustin then has an even bigger shock when a very uncomfortable number of bugs start crawling out of the earth and onto him. More bugs, and more bugs, all over him and crawling into his ears, and it's a creepy-crawly-phobe's worst nightmare. By the time Travis gets back with his rope, Dustin is very dead and bloody and the bugs are all gone.

Elsewhere, outside a bar, Sam reclines on the hood of the Impala, reading a newspaper report about Dustin's mysterious death. Exiting the bar, Dean comes over, chuckling to himself and waving a wad of cash at his brother. A profitable evening's work, apparently.

SAM: "You know, we could get day jobs once in a while."

I like that 'we'. As far as I can see, at the moment Dean is keeping the two of them afloat financially; while credit card scams pay for anything big, it's the cash Dean picks up along the way that keeps them going from day to day. Sam doesn't agree with his methods, so he doesn't join in – or possibly just isn't as good at hustling pool and cards as Dean. But he shares the money, since he has no income of his own and they never stay in one place long enough to acquire a steady income source anyway.

Plus, since Sam is all about finding John so they can hunt down the thing that killed Jessica, I wouldn't have thought he'd seriously want to stay in any one place long enough to take on even casual work anyway.

DEAN: "Hunting's our day job. And the pay's crap."
SAM: "Yeah, but hustling pool? Credit card scams? It's not the most honest thing in the world, Dean."
DEAN: "Well, let's see: honest – fun and easy. It's no contest. Besides, we're good at it, it's what we were raised to do."
SAM: "Yeah, well how we were raised was jacked."
DEAN: "Yeah, says you."

The tone of both is light-hearted – for once, this is not a serious disagreement. There's no sign of rancour, just a continuation of a long-standing debate in which they agree to differ.

Sam brings the report about Dustin's death to Dean's attention as a potential new gig. This is significant – given how much Sam is considered to and does complain about being dragged around hunting random things instead of searching for John or The Demon, it's important to note just how many times Sam himself is the one finding new random gigs for them to investigate. This is the second time in just three episodes.

Dean randomly lets slip that he's a closet Oprah watcher. Mwahahah. Both his and Sam's reactions are wonderfully understated and absolutely priceless.

SAM: "It could be a disease. Or it could be something much nastier."
DEAN: "All right, Oklahoma. Work, work, work – no time to spend my money."

First place they head for is the gas company, to talk to Dustin's buddy Travis while claiming to be Dustin's nephews. The fact that Dustin never mentioned having any nephews does not stop Travis from talking at length about the circumstances surrounding his death. He also points them in the direction of exactly where all this happened, so that's where they head next. Pretty soon they're peering down into the sinkhole discussing initial theories for what it could have been.

DEAN: "Looks like there's only room for one. Wanna flip a coin?"
SAM: "Dean, we have no idea what's down there."
DEAN: "All right. I'll go if you're scared."
SAM: "Flip the damn coin."
DEAN: "Call it in the air, chicken."
SAM: "I'm going."

Heh. Dean knows exactly which buttons to push to get a rise out of Sammy. And, of course, the reverse is also true.

DEAN: "You found some beetles. In a hole in the ground. That's shocking, Sam."

A few dead beetles were all Sam found in the hole – no evidence of any other kind of creature or spirit. Which doesn't give them much to go on. They need more information about the neighbourhood, history thereof – at which point Dean spots a sign for an open house barbeque. Perfect place to start.

DEAN: "What, we can't talk to the locals?"
SAM: "And the free food's got nothing to do with it."
DEAN: "Course not. I'm a professional."

Dean does enjoy his free food. If pressed, he'd probably argue that it's economical to let other people feed them once in a while, to save his hard-earned cash… So, they pull over and head for the house.

DEAN: "Growing up in a place like this'd freak me out."

Of course, if he had grown up in a place like this, he wouldn't know any different. Not the point, I suppose – the fact is that he didn't, and where Sam tends to regard so-called normality with longing eyes, Dean chooses instead to fiercely appreciate what he's got, defining it against that so-called normality.

SAM: "There's nothing wrong with normal."
DEAN: "I'd take our family over normal any day."

Larry, the developer behind the still-under-construction Oasis Plains, greets the boys at the door and launches right into his sales pitch, seeing as how trying to sell houses is, after all, the whole point of his little barbeque.

LARRY: "Let me just say, we accept home owners of any race, religion, colour, or…sexual orientation."

Shout out to the slash fans if ever there was one. Sam quietly cracks up, and Dean's face is a picture of suppressed irritation as he pointedly informs the man that they are brothers. Sam then launches into the smooth lying about why they are there. "Our father is getting on in years…" Wonder what John would say if he heard that.

"Great. Seniors are welcome too," says Larry without skipping a beat. This man is a salesman to his very core.

Larry's is the first family to live in Oasis Plains, which really is a totally brand new development. Only two homes have been sold as yet – or at least, only two are occupied as yet. Unsurprising, seeing as how most of them are still being built. The only other resident, as yet, is Linda, Larry's head of sales. Almost frighteningly severe in appearance and manner, Linda launches into the exact same spiel as Larry and makes the exact same assumptions about these two young men looking at houses together. Cue more embarrassed amusement from the boys.

DEAN: "Right. Let me go talk to Larry. Okay, honey?"
He smacks a slightly shocked Sam on the backside as he walks away, leaving his brother to Linda's tender mercies.

While giving Dean the grand tour of his house, Larry is embarrassedly frustrated when Dean notices the large bug collection his teenage son Matt has left out on the hall table. Clearly there is some friction between father and son.

Outside, Sam's eyes have glazed over and he's about to pass out from sheer boredom as Linda waxes lyrical about the joys of a steam shower, when salvation comes in the form of a mahoosive tarantula crawling along the table toward Linda's hand. Sam grabs the opportunity to escape with both hands, and also picks up the spider in both hands – and I hope Jared was given a little bonus for that, because, eurgh – and returns it to its sniggering owner, Larry's son. Matt is all teenage rebel-without-a-cause and full of the 'my dad doesn't understand me' vibe, and Sam, whose own adolescence ran along similar lines, instantly identifies with the boy. He watches with sympathetic eyes as Larry dresses down Matt for potentially scaring away house buyers.

SAM: "Remind you of somebody?"
[Dean looks bemused]
SAM: "Dad."
DEAN: "Dad never treated us like that."

In all honesty, though, I don't see that much wrong with Larry and Matt's interaction – yeah, they clearly aren't getting on well at the moment, and in public may not be the best place for a scolding, but they seem pretty typical of a harassed middle class father struggling to find a balance between work and family and a teenage son trying to find his own place in the world.

SAM: "Well, Dad never treated you like that. You were perfect. He was all over my case."
[Dean still looks nonplussed.]
SAM: "You don't remember."
DEAN: "Well, maybe he had to raise his voice, but sometimes you were out of line."
SAM: "Right. Like when I said I'd rather play soccer than learn bow-hunting."
DEAN: "Bow-hunting's an important skill."
SAM: "Whatever."

They are both just so determined not to see the other's point of view on this one. And Dean, at least, also seems determined not to get dragged into any kind of in-depth discussion of the issue, firmly sticking to surface details and refusing to look any deeper. They quickly return to the much safer topic of the case at hand.

During his tour of the house, apparently, Dean learned that Dustin's wasn't the first bizarre death in Oasis Plains – a year ago one of the surveyors dropped dead from a severe allergic reaction to bee stings. More bugs.

Meh. Bugs are not my favourite things, either in real life or on TV/film.

Later that evening, Sam seems to be driving around fairly randomly while Dean leafs through the journal and they brainstorm about what on earth could be going on here – a haunting, or maybe someone controlling the bugs. Matt comes under suspicion in this second theory, given his fascination with insects. I'm glad to see that Sam is keeping an open mind on that one despite feeling sorry for the kid. Got to maintain that professional detachment while working a job.

Then Dean tells Sam to pull over to one of the empty new houses, since it's too late to talk to anybody else. Which leads me to wonder who else they thought they were going to talk to – it's already been established that Larry's family and Linda are the only people living here at present, and they've already talked to them.

SAM: "We're going to squat in an empty house?"
DEAN [opening the garage door]: "I wanna try the steam shower."

Watch Sam punch Dean in the stomach as he drives past him into the garage. Was that in the script, I wonder, or did they just throw it in themselves…?

That same night, elsewhere in the all but deserted Oasis Plains, saleswoman Linda is taking a shower. In a stunning example of the worst special effects this show has to offer, hundreds of very fake spiders come pouring out of the showerhead. Linda panics and screams, and slips, and goes crashing through the glass, and pretty soon she is dead.

The mortality rate for extras on this show can be pretty high some weeks.

Next morning, Sam, all seriousness, having heard the call about Linda's death on the police scanner, hammers on the bathroom door, wherein Dean is enjoying the luxury of a steam shower. Dean, considerably less serious-minded, on the surface at least, than his oh-so earnest little brother, finally opens the door and we get a brief glimpse of him all shirtless and with a large towel wrapped around his head despite that short back-and-sides haircut of his, and it's just fab.

DEAN: "The shower is awesome."

I love the way Dean has of taking such immense pleasure in such little things. This is a guy who lives absolutely for the moment, taking one day at a time. Whereas Sam tends to look to the future and gets caught up in worrying about that, Dean simply appreciates whatever each new moment has to offer and takes life very much as it comes. Sam doesn't seem to find this trait as adorable as I do, though.

Has to be said, though, that spending a night in a brand new, state of the art, purpose-built house probably isn't something Dean has experienced very often in his life. He lives a hand-to-mouth existence out of motels and his car, so who can blame him for making the most of a few luxuries for the brief time he has access to them. Sam at least had his four years at college to enjoy having a few creature comforts around him.

So, once Dean is finally dry and dressed, they head on over to Linda's place, and find it crawling with EMTs and Larry hovering around outside in a state of distress. He isn't able to tell them much, and quickly makes his excuses to get away. This isn't a good time.

Umbrellas abound as it is pouring with rain during this scene – during a lot of this episode, in fact. The good ol' weather does not make allowances for shooting schedules; just have to make the best of what you get.

As soon as the police have gone, the boys scale the fence at the back of the house and clamber inside a window. That's a replay moment. Always great to watch them doing that. Inside, the plastic spiders Dean finds under Linda's towel confirm that her death was bug-related. Dean actually looks kinda damp in this scene, like they really did just come in from the pouring rain. That's either really good attention to detail, or says something about the shooting schedule.

Matt remains prime suspect number one, although Sam doesn't seem quite as suspicious as Dean. They go and watch Matt get off the school bus, all alone – the bus is empty, apart from him. He is the only kid living in this town/estate as of yet, which has got to be contributing to his unhappy, rebellious attitude. Instead of heading home, he wanders off into the woods nearby, so the boys follow. Because two guys following a young boy alone in the woods isn't at all suspicious if anyone sees them. Not that, of course, there is anyone living nearby to see them.

Matt, busily collecting more insects, is, however, suitably startled and suspicious at being approached by two strange guys while alone in the woods. He was obviously listening when he was given the stranger danger talk at school.

MATT: "Wait. You're not serial killers?"

He doesn't stay suspicious for long, though. The boys' reaction of being genuinely amused rather than acting in any way creepy is clearly convincing enough. Rather than beat around the bush, Dean launches straight into questioning Matt about all the bugs and what he knows about these mysterious deaths.

Matt swiftly proves himself to be a regular little Sammy Mark 2. He's very much on the ball, apparently the only person other than the boys to have connected all the bug-related deaths and to be aware that something weird is going on. He doesn't know what it is, but he knows that something isn't right. He takes the boys to a clearing in the woods, and en route they talk and Matt vents a little about his Dad never listening to what he has to say.

SAM: "I hear ya."
DEAN: "You do?"

Sam gives Dean a dirty look at that, and carries on his conversation with Matt.

SAM: "In two years something great is going to happen."
MATT: "What?"
SAM: "College. You'll be able to get out of that house and away from your dad.
DEAN: "What kind of advice is that? A kid should stick with his family."

Neither of them is really talking about Matt's situation any more, but in terms of Matt they are both right and they are both wrong. Sam is right that going away to college, putting some space between them for a while, will probably do Matt and his father a world of good. Their relationship doesn't actually seem that bad – strained at present, the teens being an awkward and often uncomfortable stage of development for both children and parents, but not that bad. But Sam isn't expressing it like that: he's making it sound like Matt should make a complete break to get away from the big, bad ogre, projecting the longstanding issues he has with his own father onto Matt's situation.

What both Matt and his dad need is to learn how to communicate better, to learn how to understand one another's point of view. But, since the Winchesters have never achieved that themselves, there's no way they can successfully advise anyone else along those lines.

They reach the clearing in the woods, and I can't really tell what I'm meant to be looking at, but from the buzzy sound effect, I gather it is swarming with bugs of all shapes and sizes. Budding entomologist Matt explains that he's been keeping track of insect populations – for a science project, you understand – and is at a loss to explain why such vast numbers of insects are congregating in this place. He seems to find it fascinating rather than worrying, though, in spite of the bizarre deaths.

DEAN [re: Sam and Matt]: "You two are like peas in a pod."

Sam notices a small mound in the clearing, and Mr Empirical Approach Dean leads the way over to investigate. One touch with the tip of his boot causes a large pile of earthworms to collapse into a large hole in the top of the mound, and poking around in said hole with a stick reveals that there's something inside. So, common sense deserting him completely, Dean sticks his hand into the hole – because after two bug-related deaths within a week there's no way anything could go wrong with that, of course – and pulls out a human skull.

Cut to – a university, someplace reasonably nearby but clearly not in Oasis Plains itself, since it isn't actually inhabited yet or even fully built. The boys drive up and…Sam is driving again. What's up with that? Sam hasn't driven so frequently in one episode in ever. Dean usually hogs the wheel, what with it being his car and all. Being Mr Discretion, Sam discreetly throws his jacket over the box of bones they've brought to be examined, since, obviously, carrying around a box of bones would inevitably cause comment.

On their way into the university the boys brainstorm a little more about what the connection could be between their mysterious human remains and the mysterious bug-related deaths. Dean then segues not-so-neatly from there into a discussion about Matt, specifically the advice Sam gave him, meaning this is in fact not about Matt at all, but about Sam himself, and their own family.

Dean: "So, with that kid back there. Why'd you tell him to just ditch his family like that?"

He's got a point. It really did come across as 'ditch your family completely' rather than 'hang in there and keep working at it, it'll get better with time and space, don't give up on them', which probably would have been a bit more helpful in the long run, if not what Matt wanted to hear right now.

SAM: "Just, uh, I know what the kid's going through."
DEAN: "How 'bout telling him to respect his old man? How's that for advice?"

Because Dean, too, can project his own issues onto Matt's situation – and he really isn't talking about Matt's situation here. Which Sam realises at once. And, my God, they actually have an actual conversation about their own actual family issues. Miracles do happen.

SAM: "You think I didn't respect Dad? That's what this is about."
DEAN: "Just forget it, all right, I'm sorry I brought it up."
SAM: "I respected him. But no matter what I did it was never good enough.
DEAN: "So what are you saying? That Dad was disappointed in you?"
SAM: "Was? Is. Always has been."
DEAN: "Why would you think that?"
SAM: "Because I didn't want to bow-hunt, or hustle pool. Because I wanted to go to school and live my life, which in our whacked out family made me the freak."
DEAN: "You're kinda like the blonde chick in the Munsters."

Typical Dean to try to sidetrack a difficult conversation with a flippant quip, since his initial attempt to blow it off failed. But, since Sam insists on continuing the subject now he's raised it, Dean gives in and meets him headlong.

SAM: "Dean, you know what most dads are when their kid scores a full ride? Proud. Most dads don't toss their kids out of the house."
DEAN: "I remember that fight. In fact, I seem to recall a few choice phrases coming out of your mouth."

Dean is no longer playing dumb and pretending not to know what Sam's talking about. It sounds like Sam's adolescence was a right barrel of laughs for the entire family. At this point, I find myself wondering how Dean didn't just bash both of their heads together back in the day, since he would have been well and truly stuck in the middle of it all. The Winchesters do not communicate well, ever, and this inability only ever hurts them.

SAM: "You know, truth is, when we finally do find Dad, I don't know if he's even gonna want to see me."
DEAN: "Sam, Dad was never disappointed in you. Never."

He can't say it much plainer than that, and we remember that in Phantom Traveler Jerry told Sam how much his Dad talked about him while he was away at school, how proud John was of him. Dean has obviously heard John talking with pride about Sam's achievements many times…but Sam hasn't. And what he heard of it from Jerry clearly didn't sink in past his ingrained opinion of his father and the memory of the very explosive state their relationship was in the last time they were together.

DEAN: "He was scared."
SAM: "What are you talking about?"
DEAN: "He was afraid of what could've happened to you if he wasn't around. But even when you two weren't talking, he used to swing by Stanford whenever he could, keep an eye on you: make sure you were safe."
SAM: "What? Why didn't he tell me any of that?"
DEAN: "Well, it's a two way street, dude. You could've picked up the phone."

We haven't really seen anything of John to judge as yet, but it sounds very much as though he and Sam are two of a kind – both too proud and to stubborn to let go of a grudge and make the first move after such a bitter falling out. And four years of estrangement were the result, painful for the entire family, not just the two of them.

And that's about as much soul-searching as the boys can take for one day, so they head inside for their appointment with some anthropologist on the pretext of claiming to be students in his class. You'd think the guy would know the students taking his class by sight if not by name, but apparently not. Class sizes must be through the roof.

The anthropologist tells them the bones they've found are about 170 years old, Native American, dating back to a period when relocation of native peoples was common. He's hazy on the local history and oral legends, but directs them to a reservation about 60 miles away to talk to the tribesfolk living there who might know more.

Next stop, the reservation. Dean is driving again now – normal service has been resumed. Directions lead them to some old bloke playing patience, one Joe Whitetree. Dean launches straight into the spiel about being students that already got them past the anthropologist, and old Joe instantly calls him on the lie. Dean deflates. He's got nothing to counter that. Sam takes over, and his more candid nature wins the old man over.

JOE: "I like him. He's not a liar."

Joe tells them a very lengthy story, passed down through the generations, grandfather to grandson, about a massacre that took place when the Native Americans living in that valley were relocated – or rather, when an attempt was made to relocate them. It bugs me considerably that he mispronounces the word 'cavalry' as 'calvary' every time. The story ends with every living soul left in the village being slaughtered, over a period of six days starting "when the sun and moon shared the sky as equals", and the chief of the village using his dying breath to utter a terrible curse that no one white man should ever live in that valley. Nature itself would rise up to protect the valley for as many days as the invaders had attacked the village, and on the night of the sixth day none would survive.

If every living soul was slaughtered, how were the chief's dying words recorded and how did the story get passed down? Legends always sacrifice detail for poetry.

And…we get an actual date and timeline for this episode. They arrived on Tuesday, says Dean, and the gas company guy died the previous Friday, which was March 20th, the Spring Equinox, when the 'sun and moon share the sky as equals'. Larry has built his development on cursed land, and this is the sixth night, when no one is meant to survive…

SAM: "So how do we break the curse?"
DEAN: "You don't break a curse. You get out of its way."

Meaning that no one can ever live in that valley? How practical is that? It's clearly prime development land – it has an entire new settlement just waiting for the first residents to move in. But that's a problem for another day; for now, they just need to get Larry and his family out of their house before nightfall.

Back at Oasis Plains, young Matt is poking around in the garden on another bug hunt. Finding a small hole in the ground, he does a Dean and reaches out for it – only to fall back as mass quantities of cockroaches come pouring out. Even Matt has limits to the amount of bugs he can stomach, apparently, as the sight of said cockroaches causes him to skedaddle, pronto.

In the Impala, speeding back to Oasis Plains, Dean is committing the cardinal sin of talking on his cellphone while driving, trying to convince Larry that he's a gas company employee, that there's a mainline gas leak nearby, and that he has to evacuate his family. Larry does not fall for it, and hangs up.

Sam then snatches the phone – which, doesn't he have a phone of his own? – and calls Matt's cell. When did they exchange numbers? And why? Anyway, Matt is relieved to hear from him, as he is distinctly unnerved by the amount of bugs in his yard. Sam tells him to get his family out of the house right away

MATT [panicking]: "My Dad doesn't listen in the best of circumstances, what am I suppose to tell him?"
SAM: "You've got to make him listen, okay?"

Whereupon Dean, looking disgusted, snatches the phone back off him. Sam's candid nature might have won over old Joe Whitetree, but there are times when telling the truth really is counter-productive.

DEAN: "Matt, under no circumstances are you to tell the truth, they'll just think you're nuts. Tell him you've got a sharp pain in your right side and you've got to go to the hospital, okay? [then to Sam] 'Make him listen' – what are you thinking?"

The appendicitis thing is actually a really good idea. Nice one, Dean.

However, they get to Oasis Plains to find Larry and family still very much in residence, and Larry himself practically incandescent with rage. Seems young Matt listened to Sam's ill-thought-out advice, rather than Dean's good idea.

DEAN: "We had a plan, Matt, what happened to the plan?"

Since it is now midnight, with the bugs due to descend at any moment, there is no longer any time to dream up plausible excuses – the truth is all they've got. But Larry is not inclined to believe anything any of them has to say because, as Dean pointed out to Matt, it sounds so impossibly crazy.

And then comes the sound of the swarm, and Larry finally believes. But it is already too late make a run for it, for any of them. Which makes me think that even if Sam and Dean had got there to find that Larry and family had left, they still would have been caught up in this themselves, unless they thought they could outrun the bugs.

Millions of bugs come pouring toward them, so they all have to run into the house and prepare to try to defend themselves, blocking off doors and windows, air vents, chimney – any way the bugs could use to gain access.

And at this point the show descends completely into a really bad bug movie: trapped in the house, all power and phone lines chewed through, bugs blanketing the house and preventing any cellphone signals getting through, bugs forcing their way in through the flue. Dean finds a can of bug spray and uses it to form an impromptu flamethrower, which lasts a lot longer than a can that size should, and they all retreat into the attic. Because that's clearly the safest place. The bug effects aren't that good, but I'm reliably informed that the actors really were put into a room with a lot of bees, and really did get stung. Presumably, the images of the actual bees used were then cloned to make it look like a heck of a lot more than there actually were.

Up in the attic, it seems like only moments later, due to the editing, but presumably it is meant to be many hours later that the bugs manage to chew through the roof and start pouring in, despite all efforts to keep them out. Then again, if they can chew through the roof, they can probably chew through anything, so there was nowhere in the house that would have been safe, really. I just can't help feeling that maybe one of the bedrooms or bathroom might have been slightly more secure, somehow.

Eventually, they all end up huddled up in a corner expecting to die at any moment, because all attempts at keeping the bugs out have failed, and then…sunrise happens. Just like that. One moment it is dark out, the next there's brilliant sunshine and the bugs beat a hasty retreat, not because they are allergic to sunlight in any vampiric kind of way, but because the curse ends at sunrise. So, really, all those millions of bugs did a really bad job of enforcing that curse, since all five white folk in Oasis Plains survived that last night.

Also, why did they settle for only killing a couple of people previously? Dustin the gas company guy died in broad daylight, because it's only on the last night that the curse ends at daybreak, and it was several days later that Linda the realtor was killed. There have been plenty of construction people around, not to mention all the prospective buyers at Larry's barbeque, and they all could or should have been at risk. The low death toll makes very little sense.

But who says curses have to make sense? It's nice when plots do, though.

Some time later – I dunno how long, but, knowing the boys' nomadic habits, I'm guessing not long – Sam and Dean swing by Larry's place to say goodbye and find the family packing up a large removal lorry. They arranged that awful quick – wonder where they are going at such short notice. The development has been put on hold while the government investigates the bones they found, which is as good a reason as any for explaining why all these brand new houses aren't going to be lived in, for a while at least, I suppose.

LARRY: "I'm going to make damn sure no one lives here again."

I'm sure he'll try, as well, but I'm also sure he doesn't have the authority to really enforce it. It's prime land, and has all these brand new houses just sitting empty – sooner or later people will settle there, and the curse will strike again. Unless being the site of a massacre means it will have a preservation order slapped on it, or summat?

Larry admits that this has been the biggest financial disaster of his career, but somehow he doesn't care – seems he and Matt are back on speaking terms, having developed a new understanding of and appreciation for one another. See, I knew their relationship wasn't that bad really and just needed time and understanding to get back on track, in spite of everything. Hopefully Sam has taken note that disagreements between fathers and sons don't always have to end in complete estrangement, that they can be worked through and resolved if both sides are willing to give a little.

Sam heads over to say goodbye to Matt, who is throwing out his entire bug collection. Seems after recent events they now creep him out a little. Boy will have to find himself a new hobby. Then, goodbyes said, Sam rejoins Dean and the two of them sit on the car for a moment, contemplating, as they watch Larry and family prepare to depart.

SAM: "I wanna find Dad."
DEAN: "Yeah, me too."
SAM: "Yeah, but I just – I wanna apologise to him."

Yeah, Sam – it's all about you. Sam uses the word 'I' an awful lot at times.

DEAN: "For what?"
SAM: "All the things I said to him. He was just doing the best he could."

Finally, Sam is starting to look at their situation from a different perspective than just his own, and beginning to realise that maybe his father's and brother's opinions and approach might be just as valid in their own way as his. Still, they all need to learn the value of compromise.

DEAN: "Well, don't worry. We'll find him. And you'll apologise. And then within five minutes you guys will be at each other's throats."
SAM [laughing]: "Yeah, probably."

The boys hit the road again.