"Right now crazy's the only game in town."

[llywela]

Meh. Home computer is still down. It has moments of allowing me to load something - it ran Nero just enough for me to make DVDs of the last 4 Supernaturals and, more importantly, to make backups of all my files just in case. This morning it loaded internet explorer for the first time in days and allowed me to read my new emails before it froze, but all this happened at a snail's pace. Mostly, it just refuses to load any programmes, hangs, freezes, crashes, etc. Thank heavens for broadband internet in the office. I'm taking this afternoon off so my brother can have a look at the computer and hopefully diagnose what's wrong. I'm just hoping against hope it isn't anything too serious or expensive!

In the meantime, I have managed to put together something on the latest Supernatural - the computer actually running Nero and allowing me to make DVDs was an enormous blessing, there. Can't post to my website right now, because of the computer woes at home, so it'll have to go here instead. A little rough still, but I'm working under large limitations this week!


Then.

"Dad wants us to pick up where he left off," Dean reminds Sam and the audience, as he has in almost every 'previously' montage ever throughout the entire show. "Saving people, hunting things." But our reminder of just how many things have been hunted and people saved is interrupted by a reminder of how badly this line of work can turn out for our intrepid heroes, as the depredations of the shapeshifter in St Louis are recapped, followed by a run-through of Dean's subsequent police record and current 'most wanted' status as a murder suspect, and –

Our regularly scheduled 'previously' recap is interrupted by a news bulletin, providing an update on a siege at a bank in Milwaukee, currently entering its third hour, with shots recently fired. There are SWAT teams, television cameras and helicopters everywhere. Breaking news interrupts this bulletin, as a door opens and one of the estimated ten hostages is ushered out by…Dean, looking enormously dismayed by the scale of the spectacle before him. How the hell did he get into this situation?

Titles.

Milwaukee, Wisconsin. One day ago. A pretty sales attendant in a jewellery store flirtatiously wonders what it's like, being an FBI guy. The FBI guy she's addressing her question to turns around, and it's Dean. Wearing a trenchcoat, and everything. Ah, costumes, how I love you and have missed you for much of this season. "Well, it's dangerous," he suaves, totally digging that he gets to play this role for her benefit. "And the secrets we have to keep…oh, God, the secrets. But mostly…it's lonely." And he's totally describing his own lifestyle, just under a more socially acceptable name, and with the girl breathlessly hanging on his every word. It's been a really long time since we've seen Dean flirting like this.

Meanwhile, Sam, minus his cast at long last and also kitted out in a trenchcoat, with his hair all slicked back off his face in that way he always does when he wants to look formal and official, is having rather less of a good time interviewing the manager, both of them all business. The gist of it is that the store was recently robbed and the night watchman gruesomely murdered in the process, apparently by a long-term employee who had been highly trusted, beyond all reproach – she'd been like family, chokes the shocked manager.

Dean's pretty shop girl, Franny, eagerly relays all the gory details of how this trusted employee had later been found dead in her home, having supposedly committed suicide. She's enjoying the opportunity for a good gossip, and willing to accept the word of the police as gospel for what happened. Dean just about refrains from rolling his eyes; he has a rather less high opinion of law enforcement agencies. He finishes up his interview, and Franny makes no attempt whatsoever to hide her disappointment. "I've got more, if you wanted to interview me again, sometime, in private…?" she bats her lashes at him. Dean takes a moment to weigh up the pros and cons of this offer, since chasing girls and having a good time has slid a long way down his list of priorities this season, and then decides what the hell, calls her a true patriot, and takes her number.

Business as usual – and so much more smoothly so than last episode. We don't know how much time has passed, but it has clearly been enough that the rawness of recent emotional turbulence has started to heal. It feels almost like a season one episode so far. Almost. We aren't told whose idea this case was, although going on recent form I tend to assume probably Sam. But we aren't told, and it isn't really important. What matters is that the boys are putting all that Epic Angst behind them, since they have no idea what to do with it, and are making a genuine stab at getting on with their lives in the only way they know how.

Sam confirms with the manager that he never saw any security tape footage, since the police confiscated it all.

Later. Amidst heavy rain, the Impala pulls up outside a house someplace, Dean grumbling about the cops and this confiscation. The increasingly isolated Winchester brothers and their outlaw brand of lifesaving versus the more official channels of law enforcement will become one of the principle themes of this episode.

"They're just doing their jobs," Sam mildly points out, but Dean is having none of that. "No, they're doing our jobs, only they don't know it, so they suck at it." He then invites Sam to "talk to [him] about this bank," thus providing an opening for Sam to throw a little exposition at the audience. Basically, a bank in town was also recently robbed, with exactly the same MO as the jewellery store – long-term and highly trusted employee, who then went on to commit suicide without ever getting to enjoy the proceeds of the heist, which were never recovered, etc. The guy they are visiting, one Ronald Resnick, was a security guard present at the heist, who was beaten unconscious by the thief. Both brothers make sympathetic noises about that final detail, having experienced similar beatings themselves more than once.

Sam knocks. A way-too-bright security light promptly comes on, almost blinding the brothers, our first hint at the personality of Mr Ronald Resnick. A tubby man with shaggy dark hair, he peers warily at them as he asks to see their badges. The brothers haul out their fake ID, and smack them against the glass door in perfect unison. Hee. They don't do that synchronisation thing often enough these days. And Sam's ID is blatantly signed 'Han Solo'. Ronald remains unimpressed at this visit by federal officialdom, and when Dean tells him they are seeking clarification on the statement he made to police, is frankly amazed. "You read it? You've come to listen to what I've got to say?" Yes, and yes, are the answers to that. He lets them in.

Leading the brothers into a back room, Ronald chunters on about how the police never called him back and thought he was crazy, and we very quickly learn why, as the room is plastered with page after page of research relating to the wave of inside robberies sweeping Milwaukee just lately. It's pretty Winchesterly, in fact, except that Ronald's take on it is very X-Files. Ronald insists that his good friend Juan did not rob the bank, despite the overwhelming evidence against him. "The thing I let into the bank," he claims. "Wasn't Juan. I mean, it had his face, but it wasn't his face. Every detail was perfect, but it was too perfect. You know, like if a dollmaker had made it, like if I was talking to a big…Juan-doll."

Yeah. It's kind of easy to see how the cops would write this guy off. Sam expresses scepticism – Sam is taking the lead on this interview, and Dean letting him get on with it – but Ronald keeps rabbiting on now he's started, showing these supposed federal agents all the research he's amassed on the robberies and the pattern he's detected that no one else has seen. "Both these crimes were committed by the same thing," he deduces.

"And what's that, Mr Resnick," Sam drawls, sounding utterly bored and not taking his eyes off the papers he's sifting through. Boy, he's got the federal agent schtick down to a fine art.

So far, Ronald has been painting a picture of a creature that sounds pretty familiar in a number of ways, interpreting supernatural events through the eyes and understanding of a geekish conspiracy theorist. The conclusions he's drawn, though, are of the 2+2=7 variety. And then...Doctor Who shout-out! Woot! Except it's less of a shout out and more just use of a sci-fi/cult resource, but still. Woot.

Ronald holds up a copy of Fortean Times, which is an actual UK sci fi magazine, its front page proclaiming 'The Birth of the Cybermen', and it is a real magazine and a real front page and it's about Doctor Who and one of the iconic bad guys of that show, and the entire UK audience falls about laughing with sheer delight. "Part man, part machine," Ronald solemnly insists, going on to embellish his theory about how these 'mandroids' can make themselves look like real people. Dean is clearly rather taken by the guy's enthusiasm and the case he's put together, and cheerfully encourages him to expand on his theory, while Sam maintains his stony official stance.

"What makes you so sure about this, Ronald?" Dean wonders. Ronald looks suspicious for a moment, as if expecting a trick question, but then laughs and pops a video into the machine. It's a copy of the security tape footage from the bank heist – the cops, of course, had confiscated all the original tapes, but crafty conspiracy theorist Ronald made a copy.

"Watch him, watch, watch!" Ronald fervently directs the boys' full attention to the moment the supposed Juan glances in the direction of the security camera, and his eyes glint silver. The brothers exchange meaningful side eyes. They've seen those eyes before, and they know what it means. Shapeshifter.

"You see – he's got the laser eyes!" Ronald enthuses, completely carried away on the tide of excitement now. He babbles about being fired from the bank and not caring, because the 'mandroid' is still out there. "If the law won't hunt this thing down, I'll do it myself."

Fighting talk, and that bold declaration is one to take note of. Ronald has pretty much got the case worked out, too, apart from the 'mandroid' thing. He's figured out what the shapeshifter is doing – replacing its victims and using their identity to commit theft on a massive scale – and has tracked the pattern of its attacks, narrowing down possible locales for its hideout. Dean looks delighted, absolutely loving this guy, for his enthusiasm and fervent belief, and for putting the case together so well from a baseline of knowing nothing, and drawing the only conclusions his knowledge and personal beliefs have prepared him for.

How many times in season one did we see Dean praise John's skill in putting a complex pattern together? Similarly, how many times this season have we seen Dean express admiration for the work of a fellow hunter, or wannabe hunter, Sam included? Professional respect is an established character trait for Dean.

Sam, though, takes a harder line, and completely rains on Ronald's parade. "I want you to listen very carefully," he says now they've got the information they need, both looking and sounding very grim and very serious. "'Cause I'm about to tell you the God's honest truth, about all of this. There's no such thing as mandroids. There's nothing evil or inhuman going on out there. It's just people, nothing else, you understand?"

Ice-cold!Sam! He's in blinkered mode once again, seeing the end result rather than the little people along the way. Having had his hopes and expectations raised so high by the supposed federal attention, Ronald is crushed and visibly deflates. Dean looks disappointed for him – also perhaps doubts that this was maybe the best way to handle this particular individual – but Sam sticks to his hard line approach, and he's been the one taking the lead on this interview, so Dean doesn't intervene now. People skills and empathy are supposed to be Sam's forte.

Motel-of-the-week. It's pretty hideous, as usual, and has pages of random research – a la Ronald – pinned to the walls.

"Man, that has got to be the kicker, straight up," says Dean of Sam's confiscation of Ronald's security camera tape before they made their exit. Irritated, Sam asks if his brother is pissed at him or something. Seems that beneath the surface, things are still just a little strained between the brothers, and understandably so, since it was only last episode that Sam made Dean promise to kill him if things get bad. But they aren't talking about any of that today, having clearly decided to play the Business As Usual and Denial cards for all they are worth.

"No, I just think it's a little creepy how good of a Fed you are," Dean notes, repeating the point I made earlier. "I mean, come on, we could at least have thrown the guy a bone; he did some pretty good legwork here."

Professional respect. Dean thinks Ronald deserves some credit for the work he's done, however flawed his ultimate conclusion might be. Sam, though, doesn't see it. "Mandroid?" he scoffs.

Dean allows him that point. "Except for the mandroid part." Heh.

While Sam re-watches the security tape footage, Dean is busy futzing around with maps and blue prints and whatnot, tracing a sewer line. "I liked him," he announces of Ronald. "He's not that different from you and me, I mean people think we're crazy."

That's a good point. The other main theme of this episode is that of the outsider perspective, and Ronald's character gives us more than one angle on that.

"Yeah, except he's not a hunter, Dean," Sam huffs dismissively. "He's just a guy who stumbled onto something real."

Isn't that how most hunters get started? Makes you wonder how many people find out about the supernatural and get themselves killed before they ever get anywhere near the proficiency of the hunters we've met thus far. There can't be that many who were raised in the 'profession', like the Winchester brothers. This is how John got started out: a normal guy unexpectedly thrust headlong into something that couldn't be explained, but with the added motivation of Mary's murder and his desire for revenge, and with the advantage of his marine training to give him a head start on the likes of Ronald. To the outside world, John would have seemed every bit as crazy as Ronald, just as the boys now also do. The biggest difference is that John found his way to Missouri early on, and she steered him in the right direction, whereas Ronald is still stumbling around in the dark, drawing the only conclusions he can from the evidence available to him thus far.

"If he were to go up against this thing he'd get torn apart," Sam insists, which is a fair enough point. "Better to stay in the dark and stay alive."

Very hardline approach from Sam. He's very businesslike so far this episode, very focused, straight down the line, no distractions allowed, and not especially inclined to listen to anyone but himself. A lot like John, in fact. Dean seems way more relaxed – his normal, laid-back persona gradually re-establishing itself after all that intense emotional turmoil this season has seen so far – and although he allows Sam the point that Ronald actively pursuing the shapeshifter could only lead to bad things, he clearly feels bad for Ronald that he got so close to the truth, and yet remains so far, and maybe instinctively feels that offering him some kind of reassurance might have gone over a little better. After all, Ronald openly declared his intention of going after the creature himself if no one else will. But it's a little late to quibble over how Ronald should have been dealt with; what's done is done, and there is still a job to get on with.

Watching the security footage, Sam confirms aloud what the audience has already figured out for themselves, given the content of the 'previously' montage and what we learned from Ronald – that they are looking at a shapeshifter, just like in St Louis.

"I hate those freaking things," Dean asserts, and when Sam agrees with that sentiment adds, "yeah, well, one didn't turn into you and frame you for murder." That's a good point, and comes close to letting slip how he really feels about that little incident, given the effect it has had on his life since then; he generally gives the impression of being completely blasé about his police record and fugitive status, having bigger and better things to worry about most of the time.

During this conversation, Dean has been busily plotting out the sewer tunnels and transposing that information to a street map, which has already got the locations of the previous incidents marked out. Shapeshifters like to hole up underground, after all. It turns out that there is one more bank sited on that particular sewer main.

City Bank of Milwaukee. Customers and staff are blithely going about their normal everyday business as a security guard escorts Sam and Dean through to a more private area, chuntering on about how they haven't noticed any problems with the system… It's costume number two! 'Securiserve Guard Service' overalls: very nice indeed. See how much the production team loves us? Sounding utterly convincing in their guise as technicians checking out a glitch in the system, the boys are left alone with the various feeds from the security cameras dotted around the building to perform 'a routine check.'

"Okey-dokey," the guard breezes as he heads out. Dean laughs. "I like him. He says 'okey-dokey'." I love the mood Dean is in so far this episode, more relaxed than we've seen him in weeks, and apparently inclined to find something to appreciate in just about everyone he meets. It's a long way from that deep, grinding weariness he's been exuding for much of the season thus far, and the good humour doesn't feel forced, as it frequently did in the last episode. Laid-back is Dean's normal state of being; it's the extraordinary circumstances of the season thus far that haven't allowed him to really be himself. Now, though, he seems to have got back to something like his season one philosophy that if hunting is going to be his life, he might as well make some kind of life out of it. And that means taking time to appreciate the people he meets along the way as individuals, not just random pieces in the latest puzzle he's working on.

Of course, if the guy turns out to be the shapeshifter, he isn't so taken with him that he wouldn't follow him home and put a silver bullet through his chest. He's a professional.

That, apparently, is the master plan – use the security footage to identify the shapeshifter, and then stalk it to a secure location where it can be killed before it has a chance to rob the bank and kill anyone else. It sounds like a decent enough plan in theory. Of course, very little ever goes to plan for the Winchesters.

Later. The boys continue to monitor the various security feeds. Looks like mind-numbingly dull work. "Well, looks like Mr Okey-dokey's…okey-dokey," Dean observes, zooming a camera in on the security guy's face to reveal a complete lack of shapeshifter-ish silver glint in his eyes. Sam wonders if maybe they jumped the gun on this case, as they don't even know for sure that the shapeshifter is here. "Maybe we should just go back to the sewers and –"

He stops and glares, noticing that Dean has found a way of relieving the boredom – zooming in on a female bank teller's backside as she bends to put something in a cupboard. "Dean, we're supposed to be looking for eyes," he sighs in exasperation. Hee. I love when Sam is all disapproving. Especially when Dean doesn't care, and in fact goes out of his way to generate that disapproval just for the sheer hell of it, without ever actually losing sight of the case, since a second later he spots what they've been looking for – silver-glinting eyes. It's the bank manager.

They've found the shapeshifter, but as they leap to their feet and prepare to – I don't know actually, begin the stalking routine, I suppose – Dean notices something else on the security feed that changes everything. Ronald. Inside the bank, tying chains around the door to seal himself and everyone else inside. Great. There's no way this can end well.

Downstairs, a very nervous Ronald finishes tying the door securely shut, and then heads into the main lobby of the bank, where a lot of people are going about their business. "This is not a robbery!" he roars, pulling out a mahoosive rifle and firing a couple of rounds into the ceiling. Way to terrify everyone, amateur! Ronald is fantastic. So well meaning and yet so inept. Petrified bank customers flee in all directions as he yells at everyone to get down on the floor.

"And you said we shouldn't bring guns," Dean grumbles at Sam as they make their way down to the lobby to try to defuse the situation, random people hurrying in the opposite direction as they go. Seems Ronald isn't doing such a bang up job of keeping control of his hostages. Sam protests that he didn't know this was going to happen, and Dean ignores this to add, "Yeah, just let me do the talking, I don't think he likes you very much, Agent Johnson." Heh. Shouldn't that be 'Agent Solo'?

In the lobby, Ronald is waving a key around as he declares that there is only one way in or out, and he's chained it up, so no one is leaving. Now, me, I can't help presuming that there must be numerous other exits to the building besides the one he just sealed – fire exits, if nothing else. That's health and safety law, right? Unless that's just a UK thing and in America it is perfectly acceptable to have a large building full of people with only one way in or out.

Ronald is then beyond alarmed when Sam and Dean arrive, recognising them as the supposed FBI agents who visited him and have no business being here dressed as technicians. Sam lets Dean do the talking, as agreed, just as Dean let Sam do the talking in their earlier encounter with Ronald. Mediation is one of Dean's strengths, as a rule – he got plenty of practice growing up with John and Sam – and it isn't as if anyone else in the bank is making any attempt to talk to the madman holding them hostage and defuse the situation. "Just don't shoot anyone, especially us," is his opening gambit after the obligatory "just calm down". Heh.

Panicking now, Ronald wants to know just who the brothers are, since they clearly aren't FBI. "Who are you working for, huh? The Men In Black?" Hee. "You working for the mandroid?"

Sam snaps. "We're not working for the mandroid!" he shouts back, all frustration. Sam has no patience at all for the amateur stepping all over his case and thus hampering his chances of being able to resolve it successfully. Successful resolution of jobs, thus saving as many lives as possible, is hugely important to Sam right now. Of course, if he hadn't shot the guy down in flames earlier, but had instead given him the belief he craved and an assurance that the situation would be dealt with, it is possible that none of this would have happened. Ronald made it clear that all he wanted was for someone to take his research seriously and take action against the creature responsible; he is doing all this because he didn't think anyone else was doing anything to prevent it striking again. Like Sam and Dean, he is trying to save lives; he just doesn't know how or what from. He bellows at Sam to shut up. "I ain't talking to you, I don't like you."

Dean gives Sam the perfect brotherly 'told you so' look as Sam backs down. "Fair enough." Hee.

Ronald, being a paranoid conspiracy theorist, gets one of his other random hostages to frisk the brothers down for weapons, which is fine, because of the no guns thing Sam apparently insisted on, until the guy finds a knife tucked into Dean's boot. Dean's all, "I'm not just gonna walk in here naked!" to an increasingly frustrated Sam, and then is deeply frustrated himself when Ronald deposits his weapon. Not gonna fish that out anytime soon, and it is presumably silver, intended for dealing with the shapeshifter.

Quickly quashing his frustration, Dean tries negotiating with Ronald for the release of the hostages, but Ronald is having none of it. From his point of view, he's doing the only thing he can think of in the face of utter disbelief and inaction from the authorities – he's locking down the bank until he can identify the 'mandroid' and prevent it committing more crimes or murders. "I already told you, if nobody's going to stop this thing, then I've gotta do it myself." He so wouldn't have tried this if he'd been allowed to believe that the FBI took him seriously and were handling the situation. That's the saddest part of Ronald's story.

"We believe you, that's why we're here," Dean offers, but Ronald isn't buying that, not after the way Sam spoke to him earlier. "You don't believe me, nobody believes me – how could they?" he plaintively asks, wild-eyed and panicking.

Dean beckons him close. "It's the bank manager," he murmurs confidentially, once Ronald has nervously moved out of earshot of the random hostages, and explains about the costumes and monitoring of the security cameras and that they saw the man's eyes.

"His laser eyes?" Ronald breathes, hardly daring to believe that he finally has someone on his side.

"Yes – no!" Dean is starting to lose patience – they have to find the shapeshifter before it can change into someone else, he insists. Ronald wonders why he should listen to Dean. "You're a damn liar," he sneers, and Dean really can't argue with that. He is. He has to be. He starts to stand, which prompts Ronald to panic and threaten to shoot, and provokes gasps of fear from the random hostages and nervous side eyes from Sam.

"Take me. Okay? Take me with you, take me as a hostage," Dean offers, at which Sam shoots some more very nervous glances in his direction. "But we've gotta act fast, 'cause the longer we just sit here, the longer he has to change." Dean lays it on the line for Ronald. "Look at me, man. I believe you. You're not crazy. There really is something inside this bank."

Ronald is mollified and gratified, and agrees – on the condition that everyone else gets in the vault.

Outside the bank, a police officer strolls past, glancing casually at the chains on the door as he does so. He continues to stroll until he is out of eyeshot of anyone inside – turns out a sizeable police presence is already starting to build up. The alarm has been raised.

Ronald ushers the random hostages and Sam into the vault at gunpoint, and gets Dean to seal them in. Dean takes the opportunity to advise the hostages to stay cool and to exchange one last worried glance with Sam at how fast this job span out of control. One of the hostages, a young blonde woman by the name of Sherri, is absolutely smitten, asking, "Who is that man?"

"He's my brother," Sam tells her, looking anxious, since he's now stuck in the vault and unable to help with the case. Sherri is awestruck. "He is so brave." Sam rolls his eyes. Hee. How many times in his life has he had to listen to girls raving about his brother? Probably more than he can count.

Ronald and Dean head for the bank manager's office, in the vain hope that the shapeshifter hasn't taken fright and shapeshifted his way out of danger already. Ronald goes ahead, brandishing his gun in hilariously amateur fashion. Dean, the supposed hostage, casually strolls after him, overalls now removed, nonchalantly tossing out directions about what to do and where to look first. It's awesome how completely in control of the situation he is from the moment he and Ronald are alone.

Ronald checks behind the desk, as directed, and promptly slips and lands on his backside. Dean comes running to see what happened, and his worst fears are confirmed when he sees that what Ronald slipped on was the shed skin of the shapeshifter, which means they are back to square one – it could be anybody.

Ronald is grossed out to the extreme. "It's so weird. This robot skin is so lifelike!"

"Okay, let's get something straight." Dean gives up, and rightly so, because humouring the bloke is clearly unhelpful – he needs and deserves the truth, having got this far on his own. "It's not a mandroid. It's a shapeshifter…. It's human, more or less. It has human drives, in this case money. But it generates its own skin, it can shape it to match someone else's features, you know, tall or short, or –"

"So it kills someone and takes their place?" Ronald clarifies. That was his theory all along.

"Kills them, doesn't kill them, it doesn't really matter," Dean mutters, only giving Ronald partial attention now as he focuses on the job at hand, and is highly gratified to find a silver letter opener on the desk that really is solid silver. Excellent use of available resources; anything that comes to hand (and is composed of the right materials) can be used as a weapon.

After throwing a quick explanation for the silver at Ronald, Dean briskly heads out once more, tossing a breezy, "Come on, Ronald," over his shoulder. For a so-called hostage, Dean is impressively in charge, his natural authority and experience shining through. Ronald follows in his wake, smiling happily to himself. Not only has he been proved right in his wild theories – more or less – but he has found an authority on the subject to fill in the blanks and offer him solid direction, someone to take control and help him achieve his aim of locating and destroying the creature before it can strike again. He's delighted.

Outside the bank, the police presence is growing steadily, with helicopters circling and SWAT teams assembling. The detective taking charge of the case, one Lieutenant Robarts, arrives and is brought up to speed. The part where Ronald locked himself in raises eyebrows – not your bog-standard bank robber strategy, that. Robarts orders his team to cut the power to the building.

Inside the bank, Dean and Ronald are heading back to the lobby. Dean notices Ronald's cheerful grin, and is bemused. "Are you nuts?"

"That's just it!" Ronald happily explains. "I'm not nuts. I mean, I was so scared that I was losing my marbles, but this is real! I mean, I was right! Except for the mandroid thing, thank you."

I like Ronald so much. So does Dean, even though the guy's ill-thought-out good intentions have completely screwed up the job – he totally understands where Ronald is coming from, and respects him for having the courage of his convictions, if not the actual ability to carry that through effectively. Just then, the lights go out. Ronald is shocked; Dean is dismayed, explaining that it's probably the cops' way of saying hi. Ronald is even more shocked, having not factored police attention into his plans. "Well, you weren't exactly a smooth criminal about this, Ron," Dean patiently points out. "I mean, you didn't even secure the security guard. He probably called them."

Dean knows way too much about illegal activities and how to get away cleanly. Ronald starts to splutter and panic; Dean brushes him off and calms him down at the same time as thinking out loud about what to do next, trying hard not to panic himself. The police have probably got them surrounded, he muses, and have cut the power to the cameras, so there's no way of telling who the shapeshifter is. "It's not looking good, Ron." Ronald is alarmed, and then they hear people moving around in the building….

It's becoming a classic bottle show, but rather more expertly executed than Croatoan.

In the vault, the random hostages are getting rather warm, what with it being so stuffy and claustrophobic in there. Sherri is still waxing lyrical about Dean. "Has your brother always been so, well, um, wonderful? I mean, staring down that gun, and the way he played right into that psycho's crazy head, telling him what he wanted to hear. I mean, he's like a real…hero or something."

Sam, now also minus his overalls, looks like he can't take much more. 'Cause, you know, he can be heroic too, given half a chance, and it can't be much fun knowing exactly what's going on here and yet being forced to hang around doing nothing but listen to his brother's heroic qualities being lauded so very enthusiastically. The Dean fangirl was totally thrown into the mix as a shout-out to the fans, but also serves a valuable purpose in terms of demonstrating the thorny position our boys find themselves in, thanks to Ronald's ill-thought-out actions. She is another outsider perspective.

The hero in question chooses that moment to open the vault door, and Sherri is delighted, thinking he's saved the day and is about to let them all out. But her hopes are quickly dashed – turns out Dean and Ronald have rounded up a few more random hostages they found loose in the bank and brought them to join the others in the vault, among them the security guard, Mr Okey-dokey, whose gun Dean is now carrying.

Sherri and the other hostages are wide-eyed with astonishment and shock to see that Dean now appears to be working with their hostage-taker. Like I said: theirs is the outsider perspective, lacking sufficient information to understand what's going on. Not about to answer any questions, Dean calls Sam out of the vault for a quick word, locking everyone else back inside with an apologetic shrug. There's no point even trying to explain; there's nothing he could tell them that they would believe. The good guys sometimes look a lot like the bad guys, and there's nothing they can do to make that right.

Dean quickly brings Sam up to speed on just how bad their situation is, which is pretty much dire: the shapeshifter could be anyone in the building, which is surrounded by armed police.

"You know, Dean, you are wanted by the police," Sam, ever the pessimist, points out in alarm, as if he thinks Dean might not remember that not-so-minor detail for himself. "So even if we do find this damn thing, how the hell are we going to get out of here?"

That's typical Sam. When Dean is around and in charge, Sam feels perfectly able to freak out and rely on his brother to provide reassurance and think of a solution; left to his own devices without that strong shoulder to lean on, he no longer has the luxury of freaking out and just gets on with things for himself. It's very consistent characterisation. Must be very tiring for Dean to be relied on so heavily.

Dean rolls his eyes. "One problem at a time." His current plan of action, improvising madly, is to search the building once more, to make sure they've found everyone, and then once they've got everybody together they will have to play a little game of 'find the freak'. He hands Sam a silver letter opener, having found another one for him, and tells him to stay and make sure Ronald doesn't hurt anybody. "Help him manage the situation."

"Help him manage?" Sam explodes. "Are you insane?"

Seeing Ronald, who is not quite out of earshot, looking nervous at this outburst, Dean offers him a quick thumbs up, and to Sam is all: don't antagonise the man with the large rifle; humour him. Except he doesn't use quite those words. What he says is: "Look I know this isn't going the way we wanted it to –"

"Understatement!" Sam fumes.

"All right, but if we invite the cops in right now," Dean continues. "Ronald gets arrested, we get arrested, the shifter gets away – we'll probably never find it again. Okay?"

Freaking out big time, Sam just gestures impatiently at Ronald, who is messing about with his rifle in full view of the spotlight centred on the windows. With the air of a man trying to herd cats, Dean wearily hisses at him to get out of the light, and then lays it on the line for Sam. "Look, Ron's game plan was a bad plan, it was a bit of a crazy plan, but right now crazy's the only game in town, okay?"

And what he means is that yes, Ronald has screwed the job to hell, but they have to deal with the situation as it is, not as they'd like it to be, and that means playing along with the well-meaning amateur and keeping him in check so that his enthusiasm and inexperience don't make things even worse. Sam is not happy about this, not sharing Dean's respect for the work Ronald put into the case before pulling this crazy stunt. All Sam can see is the potentially deadly nuisance he has proved to be. They are both right, in their own ways, but Dean's approach has proved more effective thus far in actually dealing with Ronald.

Leaving a very uncomfortable Sam and Ronald alone together, Dean takes off to search the building for stragglers. Didn't St Louis teach them what a bad idea it is to split up when there's a shapeshifter on the loose? For a practically deserted building, there are a lot of distracting and worrying creaks and thumps to be heard.

In the vault, the hostages hang around being nervous and overheated, some of them praying for their lives. Security Guard Okey-dokey seems to be suffering badly from the heat as Sam opens the vault door to let some air in. Because, as necessary as it is to keep all these people together until the shapeshifter can be identified, he knows from experience what it is like in that claustrophobic and airless vault, and also knows that – shapeshifter aside – these people are innocent and deserve to be well treated. However much they look like the bad guys, they are actually the good guys, and need to behave as such as far as possible. It's a fine line to straddle.

The phone rings. Ronald about jumps out of his skin, I wonder how the cops knew to dial that particular extension, and Sam starts to lose control of the situation as his attention is drawn in too many directions. Sherri unhappily wants to know why Sam is helping Ron, and while Sam equally unhappily tells her she wouldn't understand even if he told her, the inexperienced Ron answers the phone and is bemused at the idea that he would have any demands to make, insisting that he is a crime-fighter, not a criminal. Sam tries to get him to hang up, but Security Guard Okey-dokey chooses that moment to start having a heart attack, and Sam can't deal with them both at once. As the random hostages rush to Mr Okey-dokey's aid, Sam dashes in the opposite direction to hang up the phone just as Ron is telling the cops that he is acting alone.

Meanwhile, one of the bolshier hostages is shouting that Mr Okey-dokey is having a heart attack. "Are you just going to let the man die in here?" Sam shouts back that no one is dying in here, but has no idea what to do. It could be the shapeshifter tricking them, for all he knows. He tells Ronald to cover the door, and gets back on the phone. How he knows what number to dial is beyond me, but he dial a number he does, and gets straight back through to the cops.

While Dean continues to poke around the bank, Sam is in conversation with Lieutenant Robarts outside. Evading a question about how many hostages Ronald has taken, Sam asks for a paramedic to be sent inside. Robarts is very reassuring, believing, not unreasonably, that he is speaking to one of the hostages. Sam kind of blows that one by losing his cool and shouting at him to just send in a paramedic and not try anything else, sounding very un-hostage-like, although I suppose fear brought about by being at gunpoint could in theory produce a similar reaction. Robarts looks a tad puzzled. Being well-mannered by nature, Sam adds a 'please' to his demand, still sounding like he's nearing the end of his tether, and hangs up.

The bolshy Helpful Hostage protests that a paramedic isn't going to help Mr Okey-dokey, what with him having a heart attack and all. Ronald is very anxious but resolute that no one leaves until the shapeshifter is identified, and Sam still doesn't know what to do. He doesn't want anyone to die.

Dean is still nosing around the deserted bank. Noticing a loose ceiling tile in one of the rooms, he finds a handy coat stand nearby and uses it to dislodge the tile just enough so that half the ceiling abruptly collapses. He gets out of the way just in time to avoid having a naked corpse land on top of him. It's Helpful Hostage, with his throat slit. Fatality number one. No, this case is not going well at all.

Back in the vault, Helpful Hostage – who viewers now know to be the shapeshifter – is helpfully supporting the ailing Mr Okey-dokey while attempting to persuade Sam and Ronald to open the door and let the man out. Ronald cocks his rifle and shouts a denial of that request, and then Dean arrives to whisper the news of his findings to Sam, pretty much in the nick of time.

Helpful Hostage looks shifty as Sam now suggests to Ronald that maybe they should let Mr Okey-dokey out of the bank after all. Helpful Hostage quickly offers to help, since out of the bank is where he wants to be as well, but Sam deftly wards him off and ushers Mr Okey-dokey away himself.

Dean locks eyes with Helpful Hostage the shapeshifter, and then asks to talk to him for a second, needing him out of the vault and away from the random hostages. "You got the gun, man," Helpful Hostage snarks, wandering over to the vault door in acquiescence – and promptly managing to somehow catch Dean with his guard slightly down, slamming his head into the door and dazing him just enough to make a clean getaway.

Sam and Mr Okey-dokey are ascending a flight of stairs when they hear Ronald shouting and turn to see the shapeshifter fleeing across the lobby, Ronald chasing him. Ronald stops right in the middle of the floodlit lobby, in full view of the windows, to play with his rifle, apparently deciding to just shoot the fleeing shapeshifter, despite the fact that Dean already told him that silver is the only thing that will kill it. Sam immediately sees the danger and yells – silently – for him to Get. Down. Now!

Too late. A laser sight has already locked onto Ronald's back. The shot takes him right through the heart, and he collapses to the floor. Fatality number two.

Dean, who was following close behind Ronald, instantly dives for cover, looking distraught; he's been trying so hard to get Ronald through this in one piece. Sam looks almost equally horrified; preventing loss of life is so important to him these days. The random hostages, meanwhile, are taking advantage of the vault door having been left open to make good their escape.

Back in the lobby, Sam joins Dean behind a low but handy wall for a moment of shared, frozen horror. With Ronald's death hitting Dean rather harder than Sam, Sam steps up to the plate by taking charge and allowing his brother a few precious moments to re-compose himself, handing over Ronald's key so that Dean can take over escort duty for Mr Okey-dokey, while Sam goes after the shapeshifter. By the time Dean has registered, with some alarm, this change of plan, Sam has already gone.

Still distraught, Dean edges closer to the fallen Ronald, and I love that this is partly genuine sentiment and partly pure pragmatism. "I'm sorry, Ron," he murmurs by way of eulogy. "You did a really good job tracking this thing, you really did." And then he snags Ronald's rifle, and gets on with the job at hand.

Sam begins the thankless task of searching the bank for the shapeshifter once more, and just about jumps out of his skin when a group of random hostages appear behind him, Sherri among them, and then start squawking for him not to hurt them. "You shouldn't be back here right now. You're in danger, now go back to the vault, now!" he orders them in frustration. Life as a hostage-taker would be so much easier if they would just understand that he's trying to protect them. They scuttle away.

"This will all be over soon, everything's going to be all right," Dean gently tells Mr Okey-dokey as they make their way to that one door the bank seems to have, massed ranks of police SWAT teams waiting outside. As the door opens, a panicky Mr Okey-dokey weakly shouts for the police not to shoot and Dean echoes that yell rather more bullishly, an edge of desperation in his voice. They could take him down so very easily right now. "Son of a bitch," he murmurs to himself, seeing for the first time the full extent of the forces ranged against them. With Mr Okey-dokey as a shield, he yells again for the armed officers to get back. What else can he do?

A random detective reports to Lieutenant Robarts that 'they' seem to have taken over the situation. I'm guessing the cops know who it was that they shot, then, and had hoped that meant this was all over. They seem rather stumped, though, as to who Dean and Sam are and how and why they are connected to any of this. Increasingly desperate, Dean releases Mr Okey-dokey to get the medical help he needs and hastily retreats back inside the bank. Apparently the show of good will involved in releasing a hostage is enough to secure his safety, for now, as none of the snipers open fire despite his remaining well and truly in their sights as he hurriedly re-seals the door. "We are so screwed," he mutters to himself. And yes, they so are.

In a stairwell, Sam has found the shed skin of the shapeshifter, and calls Dean to pass on this latest bit of bad news. "Bastard shifts fast – a lot faster than the one in St Louis."

"God, it's like playing the shell game," Dean grumbles. "It could be anybody, again."

Sam adds to the badness by noting that most of the employees are out of the vault by now. Dean tells him to keep looking for the shifter, while he tries to round everybody up. You'd think there'd be some crossover there, though – if both are searching the building, they are both equally likely to run into either random hostages or the shapeshifter.

Outside, more cars join the general melee. And we have FBI. Lieutenant Robarts is less than thrilled about this. Special Agent Victor Hendrickson introduces himself. Robarts snarks, Hendrickson is unimpressed. Robarts points out that something is not right about this case, that it isn't going down like a regular bank heist, but Hendrickson remains unimpressed. "You have no idea what you're dealing with, do you? There is a monster in that bank, Robarts." And he isn't talking about the shapeshifter.

Inside the bank, a nervous Sam prowls the corridors in search of the shapeshifter, who could be anyone. It's all getting very tense. Dean, meanwhile, escorts a bunch of random hostages back to the vault. "And I thought you were one of the good guys," grumbles a disillusioned Sherri. Like I said – hers is the perspective of an outsider, with no way of understanding what's going on. Caught in an impossible situation and having a really bad day, there isn't anything Dean can say that will convince her that he is one of the good guys, however much it looks to her like the exact opposite. Achieving the best possible result out of this mess is more important than making a good impression. He has a stab at reassuring her, though, introducing himself and asking her name. "Everything's going to be all right," is all he can say as he locks her into the vault once more. "This will all be over soon."

The phone rings, and I still want to know how the cops know to dial that particular extension. Dean hesitates, and then answers. Not a lot to lose, at this stage. He starts to say that he isn't in the negotiating mood, but Hendrickson cuts right across the bravado to say that he isn't in much of a negotiating mood either. "It's my job to bring you in. Alive's a bonus, but not necessary."

Whoa. It's probably just as well Hendrickson wasn't on the scene when Dean escorted Mr Okey-dokey to the door earlier – he'd most likely have ordered the SWAT team to take the shot. Taken aback, Dean remarks that that's kind of harsh for a federal agent, and Hendrickson comes right back at him with, "Well, you're not the typical suspect, are you, Dean?"

Whoa again. Dean is silenced, frozen to the spot with shock, as Hendrickson continues that he wants Dean and Sam outside, unarmed, or he sends his men in. "And yes, I know about Sam, too, Bonnie to your Clyde."

Heh. "Yeah, well, that part's true," snarks Dean, recovering a little of his lost composure as he goes on to ask how the agent even knew they were there.

"Go screw yourself, that's how I knew," is Hendrickson's less than helpful riposte. "It's become my job to know about you, Dean. I've been looking for you for weeks now. I know about the murder in St Louis, I know about the Houdini act you pulled in Baltimore, I know about the desecrations and the thefts. I know about your dad."

See, this is where having Dean on the FBI's most wanted list inevitably leads – an agent assigned specifically to the case, his job to trace the boys' movements and hunt them down. In the weeks since The Usual Suspects, Hendrickson has unearthed considerably more information than Diana and Pete were able to come up with in the limited time they worked on the case.

Dean has been listening in silent shock to all this, but that crack about John provokes a burst of anger. "You don't know crap about my Dad."

"Ex-marine, raised his kids on the road – cheap motels, backwood cabins." Hendrickson rattles off the details, and he is talking about John in the past tense – seems that the authorities have now managed to figure out that John is dead. "Real para-militarist survivalist type. I just can't get a handle on what type of whacko he was. White supremacist, Timothy McVeigh, tomayto, tomahto…"

It's the outsider's perspective again. John was exactly as Hendrickson is describing him, and the boys did indeed endure a very harsh upbringing, but what Hendrickson is lacking is the detail that unlocks the facts and allows them to be understood in the correct context.

Dean has been angry with John all season. He has good reason to be. But he knew John better than anyone else alive, understood the man better than anyone else alive. He has earned the right to criticise John's decisions, that criticism coming from a vantage point of understanding why John made the choices he did, and is quick to leap to his father's defence in the face of outside criticism from someone lacking either understanding or sympathy. "You got no right talking about my Dad like that," he snarls into the phone. "He was a hero."

Hendrickson is not convinced, and doesn't really care. "You've got one hour to come out, or we come through those doors full automatic." He hangs up. Dean despairs of getting out of this alive.

Having given Dean one hour, Hendrickson orders the men to get ready – five minutes and they are going in. So much for the word of an agent. Lt. Robarts is scathing, pointing out that one hostage has been released already and they've hurt no one as far as he can tell. Hendrickson insists that the lieutenant doesn't know the Winchesters. "They're dangerous, smart and expertly trained." Well, he's got two out of three bang on, there. Robarts argues that they can't risk the lives of the hostages. Hendrickson doesn't want to know. "Trust me, Dean's a greater risk to them than we are." Robarts, fuming about having his operation hijacked like this, snorts that he's crazy. Hendrickson ripostes that, "Crazy's in there. And I just hung up on it."

Burn! That is one stone-cold bastard Dean has got on his tail. Things are not looking good.

In the bank, Sam is still searching for the shapeshifter. Noticing a few spots of blood on the floor, he edges over toward the cupboard door they lead to, and gingerly reaches for the handle. Out tumbles…the corpse of Sherri, clad only in her shift and with her throat slit. Fatality number three, it would seem. Sam curses, more frustrated than upset by this latest development.

Sam heads for the vault, where Dean promptly tells him that they've got a bit of a problem outside. That's a bit of an understatement, methinks. Sam counters with the news that they have a problem right there in the vault. How does he know Sherri was among the random hostages Dean has rounded up? I guess he's just assuming that Dean would have found everybody, what with there only being one door, which is sealed.

Opening the vault, Dean tells Sherri that they are going to let her go, as a show of good faith to the feds. Sounds plausible enough. Sherri is unconvinced, saying she would prefer to stay with the other hostages, and it's a really good mislead. Because…as the shapeshifter, she'd want to stay with the others, nice and anonymous, safety in numbers and all – but also, as a random hostage, she's got good reason to not want to be alone with the knife- and gun-wielding apparent madmen holding her captive. Dean politely tells her that he's going to have to insist, and he's got Ronald's rifle to back that up.

Given little alternative, Sherri accompanies the boys to the room where the corpse of her double lies, protesting en route that she thought they were letting her go, and probably imaging the absolute worst since they aren't heading for the exit. She then takes one look at herself lying dead on the floor with her throat slit and starts screaming hysterically. The boys think she's just putting on an act and are unsympathetic, Sam fiercely telling her that this is the last time she kills anybody, ever and brandishing his silver knife. Sherri faints away dead on the spot. They weren't expecting that.

Rather at a loss to know how to proceed, the boys look from one Sherri to the other. The one is dead, and the other unconscious. Which is the shapeshifter? Dean opts for the alive one and kneels alongside her, clutching his silver letter opener, preparing himself to go through with the kill.

Sam stops him before he can stab, wondering what would be the point of this plan – fainting now wouldn't help the shapeshifter survive, would it? Again, they look from one to the other, wondering how to tell. We get an eyeful of Dead!Sherri's cleavage as Dean moves across to examine the corpse, still wondering how to tell. It looks dead.

There's a loud crash elsewhere in the building – the boys don't know it, but that's the feds announcing their entry. It's also a wonderful distraction for the shapeshifter, allowing it to make its move. Making the most of the advantage of surprise, Corpse!Sherri grabs Dean by the throat just as Real!Sherri comes around. Seeing what's happening, she promptly starts screaming again, so instead of helping his brother fend off the very strong shapeshifter currently throttling him, Sam quickly moves to reassure and protect her. Still being choked, Dean yells at him to get her out of there, and he is quick to oblige. The shapeshifter then gets in a few hefty kicks and blows, enough to knock Dean off balance, which gives it time to flee. Dean isn't doing so well in the fighting stakes this week.

Elsewhere, SWAT officers cautiously make their way into the building, weapons at the ready.

Searching for the missing-yet-again shapeshifter, Dean hears a sound and quickly hides behind a pillar. SWAT officers enter the room, and make their way to the very spot where Dean just was. Of course, he isn't there any more, because that's how these things work. Satisfied that the room is clear, they move on once more, whereupon Dean promptly reappears from wherever he'd been hiding. Those SWAT officers are useless at searching a room!

The SWAT officers continue to search, and stumble upon Real!Sherri – who may now be distinguished from her shapeshifter counterpart by the fact that she is wearing clothes. Although that fact leads us to wonder where the shapeshifter got the shift it is wearing, having previously appeared as men so far this episode… Anyway, the officers move to escort Sherri to safety, while more of their number continue to search the building for those elusive Winchester brothers.

Sam can't be far, of course, because he was with Sherri just moments earlier. Sure enough, a couple of SWAT officers round a corner, see Sam's retreating back, and yell at him to, "Freeze!" He complies, still with his back to them, hands in the air. They very cautiously edge closer, despite the fact that they are heavily armed and armoured and he isn't. They've been warned about how dangerous these Winchesters are.

Elsewhere, Dean continues to search for the shapeshifter, which remains his number one priority, over and above getting away from the SWAT team currently looking to capture or kill him. The shapeshifter finds him first, landing an almighty punch, again with the advantage of surprise on its side. The fight is on.

Meanwhile, the SWAT officers have drawn closer to Sam. They reach out to take him into physical custody…and Sam bursts into action. Excuse me while I borrow from the terminology of Batman to describe how this plays out: POW! BIFF! SPLAT! He takes them both down, just like that. Sam is good at hand-to-hand, but only if he has the advantage of surprise. A purloined rifle to beat his opponent(s) into unconsciousness is also always handy.

Dean is still fighting the shapeshifter, which is proving to be a strong and effective fighter, no matter what gender it is currently appearing as. Not having any kind of advantage over it at all, Dean is struggling to hold his own. He gets in a few solid head-butts and gets the creature pinned, only for the skin to rip right off its arm. Dean is distracted by the extreme grossness of this; the shapeshifter counters by kicking him between the legs in a very sensitive spot, and then taking advantage of his temporary incapacitation by delivering a few more powerful blows. You'd expect a lot of cuts and bruises to show for all this punishment Dean is taking, but not so much as a scratch is evident. He recovers, pins the creature again, and then – finally – manages to stab it through the heart with that silver letter opener he's been carrying around for so long. Another murder scene with Dean's fingerprints all over it – human-looking creatures have got to be the worst of all in terms of repercussions.

The shapeshifter dies in Dean's arms and, since it is currently wearing the face of a pretty blonde girl he has met and talked to, he finds this rather an unsettling experience. But he has no time to react or make a getaway, as a SWAT officer comes up behind him just at that moment, catching him red-handed in yet another scene he absolutely cannot explain away…

Later. Special agent Hendrickson enters the building, as the SWAT team continues to search. The corpses of Helpful Hostage and Shapeshifter!Sherri are found and lamented over – and cause some comment from the officer who just escorted Real!Sherri out of the building; he speculates that she must have a twin sister. Kinda makes you wonder, again, what an autopsy of a shapeshifter would reveal, especially since it would soon become very evident that Sherri doesn't have a twin sister, although any story she has to tell about seeing her own corpse come to life and attempt to throttle one of the hostage-takers would no doubt be dismissed as post-trauma babblings, just as Ronald's story was. Helpful Hostage's corpse has a slit throat; the shapeshifter corpse has a slit throat, a stab wound to the heart, and the skin ripped off one arm. Nasty. It seems safe to say that all details that can't be explained will be swept under the carpet and two more brutal murders are about to be pinned on Dean Winchester.

Hendrickson is beyond frustrated when all the teams report back with no sign of the Winchesters, but the officer reporting to him believes he has an explanation for their disappearance. Two of his men, stripped to their underwear, bound and gagged in a cupboard. Yay, Sam. Realising what this means, Hendrickson looks deeply exasperated – but with a hint of grudging admiration for the resourcefulness and ability of his quarry. So near and yet so far.

I can't help hoping Hendrickson also takes note of the fact that the Winchester brothers could easily have murdered the officers they took those uniforms from, but didn't, and pauses to think about the incongruity of this in light of what a callous and vicious murderer Dean is presumed to be.

Syyx's Renegade - such a perfect choice! – plays as Sam and Dean, dressed in full SWAT team body armour sprint into a multi-storey car park. Costume number three of the episode. I love costumes. I also love that as they reach the car, Dean lightly touches Sam's back as they cross to their respective sides, a tiny gesture of reassurance. And I love that the Impala is both sorely in need of a wash, and, as usual, unlocked. How that car hasn't been stolen long before now is beyond me.

They quickly get inside and then sit, in silence, catching their breath. Hearts no doubt racing furiously at such an enormously narrow shave. That was way too close. They slowly remove their helmets and pull the balaclavas back so that their faces can be seen at last, and man, they both look absolutely shattered. Shell-shocked.

"We are so screwed," Dean says at last.

And, boy, they sure are: just another stage in the ongoing isolation of the Winchester brothers, the options available to them narrowing more and more as time goes by. If, whether intentionally or not, John raised his sons to be deeply interdependent and isolated from the outside world, the situation they now find themselves in only serves to heighten that co-dependency as meaningful interaction with any outsiders becomes ever more fraught with danger and every other possible resource is slowly stripped from them.

That shadowy hunting community they are part of and yet exist on the fringes of is not something they can ever trust entirely, not after Gordon's actions in Hunted. Even trusted contacts such as Ellen may be seen as slightly suspect; certainly her saloon isn't the safe haven it first appeared, given that Gordon got his information from an unnamed source therein. The facts about Sam's psychic abilities and what they mean can only spread from here on in, and there is no way of predicting how many hunters may choose to side with the brothers, trusting in Sam's ability to resist demonic control and Dean's ability to control his brother's behaviour, and how many will reach the same conclusions as Gordon and decide to take lethal pre-emptive action.

Equally, the escalation of Dean's legal strife, Sam inextricably linked into it, divides the brothers ever more from 'normal' society, with a federal agent who regards them both as highly dangerous and amoral assigned to hunt them down – and the speed with which he arrived on the scene in Milwaukee proves that he isn't far behind them, tracking and maybe even starting to predict their moves.

As crazy and manic as Ronald and his wackier theories came across, that is how Dean and Sam appear to normal people, to law enforcement officers, who have had no brushes with the supernatural to provide them with any kind of understanding. The brothers run around the country wielding massive firepower and breaking laws left, right and centre… It seems safe to say that official attention can only grow from this point onward. The stakes are extremely high, the layers of complication growing, and the pressure on the brothers intense; any wrong move could bring the law crashing down upon them, and the need to avoid this will hamper their ability to go about even their normal daily lives, never mind the jobs they work.

And lurking behind all these issues is the Demon, and his plans for Sam. No, things are not looking good at all. But this is a fabulous episode.