Cemetery - Dean holds the flashlight while Sam digs up Kate. "I get why she's killing people," gasps Sam, "I just don't get why she's warning them." Part of the curse or joy ride, suggests Dean, who has spritzed the body with lighter fluid while Sam pours on the salt. Kate's ghost shows up and shoves Sam down. "Back off, Crazy Eyes," orders Dean. "Listen to me!" insists Kate--"why isn't anybody listening?" Dean is trying to get his lighter working while Sam is playing with matches. Kate's screams of "NOOOOOOOOO!" echo throughout the graveyard as her earthly remains burn. "Nice timing," Dean praises his brother, breathing heavily. 



"Got it," says Melanie, "and Dean--thanks." She reports  the great news to Camille, who is standing next to her. "Now what?" her friend asks--"go home?" Noting that Camille is still nervous, Melanie invites her to come stay with her for a few days. Camille gratefully accepts. They still have to stop by Camille's to pick up a few things, and when the clock strikes two, Melanie sees the fear on Camille's face and hurriedly says, "Let's just go." "Call them back--NOW!" orders Camille. Melanie phones Dean in the car. "It's still happening!" she cries--"what should we do?" Sam takes the phone from his brother. "Drive," he commands. Into the phone, he says, "Melanie, get to the kitchen." She turns to go, but it's too late, Camille is face to face with, then being strangled by, the ghost. Sam orders her to get salt. Melanie does, and tosses it on the ghost, getting her to disappear, but only for only a few seconds. With all the salt gone, Sam tells her to see if there's a fireplace and fire iron. Melanie is only able to hold the ghost at bay for a very short time until it sends a heavy dresser ramming into her, knocking her down and stunning her long enough for the evil spirit to grab Camille and bear her off, screaming.   

Melanie comes racing down the stairs into Dean's arms, sobbing over her friend's abduction and death. "I should have known that whole good sis-bad sis story was all showmanship crap!" fumes Dean--"oh, and turns out Kate was just trying to warn people about her evil bitch sister!--and we burned her bones, so that's gone!" "Dean, all we can do now is go stop her," points out Sam. "That's not good enough," Dean insists, "by a mile." Sam gets it, but. . .with Melanie coming downstairs, they realize they should discuss it later. Although her tear-stained face tells all, Dean asks how she's holding up. "I've been better," she says, "I need you guys to leave." "We will," Sam promises, "but Margaret is still out there." "What do you guys need to know?" asks Melanie. "Is there anything that stood out?" asks Sam. "She barely gave a crap about me," says Melanie, "I was always in the way, it was always about getting Camille." "That's something," says Dean. "One other thing," she adds, "she enjoyed it--she was smiling."

Cemetery - Sam and Dean dig up Margaret Fox. "I feel naked doing this in the daylight," complains Dean. "Yeah, yeah, let's just hurry up," urges Sam. They reach the casket. "All right, Mags, my lighter's juiced this time," says Dean. Sam drags off the top of the casket--but the body is gone! "Geraldo," says Dean, "never good." "If someone knew enough to take Margaret's bones, that's serious binding music," frets Sam. "Great, psychic ghost bitch on a leash," says Dean. "We gotta find those bones," says Sam. "We gotta find the bone head," says Dean. (LMAO! There were some really funny lines by Dean in this ep) "So, what, we call Bobby and see what it takes to harness the power of a ghost?" asks Sam. Dean says he isn't going to spend his money at the annual Lily Dale Psychic Festival and Hot Dog Eating Contest this year? Why? Because all the headliners are dead. 



"After Nikolai, they asked Camille to take his spot," Melanie tells Dean, "she's so popular--was so popular." "Would you say these people are the top dogs in town?" asks Dean. It's not really like that, she says. But they were all doing well, says Dean, your Grandma? She wrote a few books, concedes Melanie, and Imelda was on the Network Issue (?) twice, so I guess they were doing pretty well--why, do you think that's why she went after them? I don't know, says Melanie. Your grandmother was headlining at the great hall, Dean reminds her, so who do you think they would ask to fill in for her? Probably. . .me, realizes Melanie, suddenly alarmed. 

Sam goes to Johnny Tomorrow's shop and asks about some stuff that would have been purchased from him: Ashwood Alters or Assinsip (taking potshots at what I hear and how to spell them). Johnny asks to see the list and compares it to a ledger. He finds a credit card receipt and starts writing things down. "The police stuff you do," says Johnny, "I just heard about Camille." Sam takes the list from Johnny, thanks him, and leaves. 



Back at Melanie's, Dean makes a salt circle. "You sure that'll work?" she asks. "Long enough for Sam to find the bones and burn 'em," says Dean--"hopefully." "Hopefully," she agrees. "Does it hurt 'em--burning their bones?" she asks. "I never really thought about it," he says, "probably, yeah." "Good," she says angrily. (Ed. note: See, even after death, family hurts us, we want to hurt them back. Sad.)

Sam bursts into a house on a Lamaze class, his gun clutched in both hands. "Where's the altar?" he demands. She points to a batch of candles sitting on top of an old trunk, certainly nothing supernatural about it. Looking around, he lamely says, "This doesn't look like a necromancer." "This is a Lamaze class, I swear," says one of the terrified pregnant women." "I believe you," says the embarrassed Sam, and hastily exits. The woman bangs on a metal bowl. "Om," she intones shakily.



Sam calls Dean and tells him it's the pawn shop guy, who wild goose chased him to a Lamaze class. "Figure out where he put her bones," orders Dean. "I will," Sam assures him, but it might already be too late--Margaret's ghost is gazing in at them malevolently through the window! 

Sam uses the card Jimmy gave him to find his place. He finds an altar with a skull on it and picks it up. Sam hears a gun being cocked behind him. 

"Hi--Agent," says Jimmy, "put the skull down. "Okay, okay," says Sam, "take it easy." He hands the skull to him over his shoulder. When Johnny reaches for it, Sam is able to disarm him and take possession of the gun. 

Dean and Melanie stand in the salt circle. "Is she gone?" Melanie asks nervously. "I doubt it," Dean answers. "But she can't get past the line, right?" she asks nervously. The wind blows in, breaking the windows and scattering the salt all over the place. Dean and Melanie are knocked over. He holds onto her. (Ed. note: Nice to see Dean caring about a girl without lust creeping up. Weird but nice.) 



"Nice binding spell," Sam praises Johnny. "It doesn't matter," says the latter, "she helps me because she wants to. "What?" asks Sam, shocked. 

Dean tells Melanie to put down more salt, but she screams when the ghost appears and pushes Dean out of the circle and out of the way so she can go after Melanie with a tire iron.

"Margaret and I are the same, the real thing," Johnny explains to Sam, "but guess what?--sometimes the real thing just isn't pretty or entertaining enough!" (Ed. note: What does the real thing with a ghost consist of, one wonders, but doesn't want to ponder too closely, because it's too creepy.)

Dean shoots Margaret with rock salt, making her disappear for a few precious seconds. 



"When I show people what I'm capable of," continues Johnny, "it scares them. I can't pay my rent!"

After making sure the salt line is solid, Dean pushes Melanie behind him. "This is as far as you go, bitch!" he sneers at Margaret.

"Margaret's happy to kill for me," brags Johnny, "she likes the leash. "You're sick," says Sam. "You know what else I am," says Johnny, "a real psychic, you dick bag." He holds up his hand and the gun in Sam's hand flies onto the floor at Johnny's feet. Johnny picks it up. "Surprise," he says, aiming it at Sam. Sam raises his hands up, surrendering. 

For Dean and Margaret, things go sour. The floor cracks, leaving the salt circle open and them vulnerable. "Awww," says Margaret in false pity, "sorry, handsome." Dean fires at her again, making her disappear.



"Where are the bones?" Sam asks Johnny.

Dean goes to fire at Margaret again, but is out of ammo. He turns and grabs a length of iron chain from his duffel, slamming her across the face with it. She again disappears.

"These people don't deserve to die!" insists Sam. "Oh come ON!" says Johnny, "are you kidding me? I live in squalor because I can't put on a show like them." He holds up the gun to shoot Sam, who says, "Don't do this! They're in the bedroom, aren't they?" Johnny fires, Sam ducks, causing him to miss, fortunately. Johnny looks over his shoulder at the bedroom. "You're not getting in there," he warns. Johnny's one second of not paying attention costs him; Sam has gotten out his gun and shoots him in the chest. Johnny falls to the ground, dead. 



Margaret is beating up Dean very badly, shoving and kicking him all over the room until he's barely conscious.

Sam retrieves the skull and takes it into the bedroom, where he finds the rest of Margaret's bones under the covers on the bed. 

Margaret has Melanie cornered, her fingers wrapped around her throat. "Too bad," the ghost whispers, squeezing tightly.

Sam is quickly salting and burning Maggie's nasty old bones right there on the bed, just in time to save Melanie's airway. Dean looks up from the floor to see her holding onto her sore neck but otherwise all right.



At the diner, Sam tells Dean what happened from his end of the story. "IN the bed," says Dean, referring to Margaret's bones, "they were IN the bed?" "Argh, I can't believe he was boning her," says Dean, completely grossed out. (Ed. note: Boning her bones? Blargghh!) Sam makes a face. "Dean!" “Can I get you anything else?” asks their fey waiter too cheerfully. Just a refill,” says Dean, “and if you AFFIRMATE me, I'm gonna punch you in the face.” Unsure if whether or not Dean is kidding, the waiter says, “OK, coffee,” and goes to get it. Dean rubs his eyes and declares, “I can't wait to get out of this friggin' fortune cookie.” Sam points out that Melanie is heading their way and says he has to “do something outside.” Melanie joins Dean. “You didn't stick around so I could say thank you,” she reminds him. “No reason to thank me,” he assures her. “You saved my life,” she says. “But not your friends',” he says. “Well, you didn't send that ghost, so thank you for coming to kill it,” she says--”you and Sam seem a little better.” “You could tell that from the walk up?” he asks. “Take it or leave it,” she suggests, “also guessing you're not so keen to visit here again, so this is goodbye. I wish we'd met on a better week.” “I wish I had better weeks,” he quips, “but then, you never know—it's not like you tell the future, right?” She turns his hand over, checks his palm, and says, “Well, answer's hazy, try again later.” She gives him a big smile. He smiles back. “Right,” he says. 



Dean goes outside to find Sam piling his stuff into the same car Dean had stolen. “Works for me,” says Dean, adding, “you still wanna break my face?” “No-not at this moment,” says Sam with a grin—“look, you know what—you were right about Amy. If she was just any monster, I'm not sure I just could have let her walk away—I dunno. I mean I'll never know.” “So what are you saying?” asks Dean. “I get why you did it,” says Sam, “you were just trying to make sure no one else got hurt--but here's the thing—you can't just look me in the face and tell me you're fine. I mean you're not sleeping, you drink for the record. . .” “Here we go,” says Dean, annoyed. “Look, last one to preach, I know,” admits Sam, “just be honest with me—how are those the actions of someone who knows they did the right thing?” “You want me to be honest?” asks Dean. “Yeah,” answers Sam. “I went with my gut,” says Dean, “and that felt right; I didn't trust her, Sam. Of course, ever since Cas, I have a hard time trustin' anybody. And as far as how I've been acting, I dunno, maybe it's just that I don't like lying to you, it doesn't feel right. So you got me there, I've been climbin' the walls.” “I know how that is,” Sam assures him, “if I learned one thing from that museum, sibling acts are tough.” “Don't compare us to that hall of crazy,” insists Dean. “we're like poster kids of functional family life compared to them.” “It's a low bar,” says Sam. “Gradin' on the curve's gotten me through every day since Kindergarden,” quips Dean, “so don't knock it.” “Whatever you say,” says Sam--”I still want to know how the guy bent my spoon.” “Forget it, Sam,” urges Dean, “it's Lily Dale.” He turns on the (wrong) car, they smile at each other, and  drive away together.



(Ed. note: Very enjoyable episode! Sam and Dean finally worked out their problem in the best way they could. Sam finally realized that he let Amy go because she was Amy; had she been just any monster, the story would have been different. Dean still feels he had to kill Amy; his actions afterward came about because he had a hard time lying to Sam. Bottom line: they are sticking together and sibling acts are tough. It made me feel so good to see them driving off together, even if it wasn't in their beloved Impala. It was a highly satisfying story, with the bad guy and gal vanquished, the heroine saved and Sam and Dean back together, brothers and friends.) 

 

Questions: 

1.  How did you like brothers reconciliation?  Did it satisfy you?  Did either brother “win,” or did both come out pretty even? 

2.  Would you like to live in Lily Dale, or stay far, far away?  Why? 

3.  What was your opinion of the family presented here?  Did Margaret Fox and her sister remind you of anyone else we've known on SPN?  When we realized what was going on, I thought of the teacher the brothers burned  in “The Real Ghostbusters” who was preventing the bad schoolchildren from “having fun.”  Sometimes they do make mistakes, which makes them human and wrong.  Cool.

4.  What was your opinion of Johnny?  It was really all about the cash for him, wasn't it?  He was angry because he was the only poor psychic in town, or so it seemed. I wonder what he did that scared the patrons?  Screwed Margaret while they watched?  Brrrrr.  Nasty!

5.  How did you like the Dean and Sam's first meeting?  Were you laughing like I was, the way Dean was jabbering on so Sam couldn't tell him to just go away?

6.  Wasn't Melanie a sweetheart?  Why do you think Dean didn't go in for at least a one night stand with her?  Is he turning into too nice a guy to hurt a nice girl like that?

7.  Who found the waiter annoying?  I did, so much!

8.  I give this ep a solid 8.  I really enjoyed it and thought the episode ending conversation between the brothers was very well done and well acted. All the acting here was really, really good, even the secondary characters.

I wanted to offer my condolences to Jared Padalecki on the loss of his dog, Harley, to cancer.  My heart goes out to him.  I have two dogs of my own and understand such terrible loss.  I love you, Jared.  Many hugs.  Rest assured Harley has met many friends up on Rainbow Bridge.