Jared is nailing this whole damsel in distress thing, and his agony is hitting me deep already because it's so believable. This is the first episode where that happened for me with Jared's acting. Also, Jensen's again blowing us away with Dean staying in control on the outside, but every so often showing those glimpses of him barely holding it together inside. Amazing how he pulls that off so well.



Dean figures Sam went somewhere and finds some blood on the window frame. Uh, yep, Sam probably went through that. They go outside and see if anything jogs the ole memory. No, but wait...that garage feels familiar. As luck would have it too, there's a key to it in Sam's pocket. They open the door and there's an old VW bug, which bothers Dean. "Aww, please tell me you didn't steal this." It's kind of interesting how little bits of Sam's actions were done just to dig at Dean. It's so working too.



They inspect the inside of the car and find more blood and a bloody knife. Sam by now is in full blown sad puppy mode, whimpering that he may have used that knife on someone. Dean is still giving him the benefit of the doubt, because in this stage of their relationship, Dean still actually believes in Sam. Boy does that change.

Then Dean finds a pack of menthols (Ha! Something else to bother Dean). Now he's sure it couldn't have been Sam (he's half right). Sam finds a receipt to a gas mart a few towns over.



The Impala in all its shining beauty pulls up into the gas station, and nothing looks familiar to Sam. He's so lost! Poor baby! They go inside and clerk loses it at the sight of Sam. Not in a good way. Sam apparently the day before grabbed a "40" from the fridge (malt liquor), chugged it, and threw it at the guy's head. "This guy?" Dean asks incredulously while Sam has full innocent child "not me" going. "What, am I speaking Urdu?" Ever since I've seen this episode, I say that to my kids all the time when they aren't listening. They still don't get the reference and I love it.

The clerk picks up the phone to call the police. Dean sends a protesting Sam away and calms the clerk down, wanting just to talk. Then Dean tries to get the clerk to help him out by asking him which way Sam went the day before, but the snarky jerk tells him, "Oh, that's what I live for. Look, dude, I get it, your poor occupational choices in life have made you bitter, but try to keep in mind that guys like this can snap your neck like a twig. Your attitude is going to get you ganked one day. Okay? Good.

Dean, being a great read of jerks like this, finds the motivation. After the clerk complains that Sam didn't pay for the drink and the smokes, Dean pulls out money to cover it. The clerk thinks he might remember, and Sam took two packs. Dean gives him more money and he tells Dean north. Dean gets the last word though, taking a few candy bars smugly in retribution.



They're crusing in the Impala at night and Sam's somber gaze out the window is tinged with desperation. Sam's eerie silence is freaking Dean out, but they can't talk for Sam sees a drive and insists they go down there. He doesn't know why, but that's good enough for Dean.

They pull up to a secluded house and the security lights light up the yard like a Christmas tree the second they get out of the car. Whoever lives there needless to say doesn't like casual visitors. They go on the porch and the house is dark. Dean asks if they should knock and Sam gives him a terse, "Yeah, I guess." I'm really loving this teetering on the edge Sam.



With the tension still thick in the air, Dean knocks, and Sam finds a window broken out. They wonder why the cops weren't there. Sam finds out when a box of wires has been tampered with. For a dude that was really cautious, leaving the alarm electrical box for easy access like that to intruders wasn't too smart. I would have fired the security company.

They go inside, everything is dark, and the place is completely trashed. After shining their flashlights, around, Dean finds the body in the office. The neck has been slashed, and he's lying in a pool of blood. Sam loses it. "I did this." Dean doesn't want to believe it and thinks if Sam did do this, he had a reason. Maybe the dude was evil. Sam sees the closet and with agitation (just so we get his poor frame of mind) demands Dean's lock pick. He opens the door and sees all the weapons. Hunter!

Sam thinks he's guilty, but Dean would rather look at the security footage. Fine, find out the hard way. Yep, it's Sam, wearing his before bloody shirt, beating the tar out of this poor guy before slashing his throat. Sam wipes the knife on his now bloody shirt, and Dean and now completely freaked Sam watch in devastation. Yeah, I wouldn't save that treasure for the home movie collection.



Dean's trying to cover their tracks while a near catatonic Sam reads a letter from the dead guy's daughter. No, I'm not going to speculate if waterproof pajamas is an inside joke. Dean tries to get Sam to help him, but Sam's feeling too much remorse over killing the guy. Dean points out that since dead guy is a hunter, other hunters will come looking for him and they have to cover their tracks. Sam still won't come around and says the guy's name is Steve Wandell. Dean isn't in the mood to join the pity party and smashes the computer with the survellance footage. That jolts Sam a little and Dean orders him to wipe his prints. Yeah Sam, wallow in misery in the Impala!