Only on the CW do we open on a camping scene with such pretty, well put together kids.  Campers don’t look like this – if they did, I’d go camping.  As you can expect, they’re telling ghost stories.  The kids “true” tale centers on Jennie Greentree, who haunts the woods.  Trevor, the drunk brother of one of the camper’s shows up and spooks everyone for a minute before throwing a temper tantrum and stalking off.  His screams echo the air and his brother finds him with his insides now outside.  Gross.

Usually this is where the boys would roll into town and begin to save everyone, but we’ve got Poison by Bell Biv Devoe blaring from the car so we can safely assume it’s not them.  Instead Garth steps out.  The two girls from the camping trip are at the local diner, all gossipy and snarky but quickly apologize when Garth pretends to be law enforcement.  Garth is unsurprisingly cool with it, but damn, I’d have said, “Bitches don’t be bullying.  Haven’t you seen the PSAs recently?”

The girls fill him in on Jennie Greentree haunting the woods and that she’s buried in the town cemetery, leaving Garth to believe this is a quick salt and burn.  With a sassy, “You’ve been Garthed”, and more musical accompaniment from Bell Biv Devoe, he saunters to his car and believes the town to be safe.  Seriously, I’m going to have ‘Poison’ in my head all weekend.

Ray, brother of recently deceased Trevor, is drinking heavily, armed with a gun (oh that’s a good idea) and on a mission to kill the animal that killed his brother.  No one’s surprised when he ends up gutted too.  Well, ‘cept Garth who hears about it via his police scanner.

Cut to the Winchesters in a car that is still not the Impala.  How long will this injustice go on?  Dean’s checking up on Cas with Meg.  They’re the same (Cas is still in his Lucifer plagued world and Meg’s still a bitch).   I was surprised to realize that Dean knows that Meg’s watching Cas full time as a nurse.  No good can come from this Dean!  I think Sam would be agreeing with me, cept he’s feeling guilty that he passed on his crazy.  Dean insists it’s not Sam’s fault, that he heard what Cas said … but did he? Sam was kinda in that Lucifer plagued world before Cas did the shifting.  Anyway, Dean doesn’t blame Sam (shocking, right?).  Sam blames himself for passing on the crazy all The Ring like when Garth calls.

After reminding Dean who he is, Dean and Sam head to Junction City to help Garth out.  Sam’s in Garth’s presence all of two seconds before he’s annoyed. Instead of showing up in a suit all FBI like, Garth came in fatigues, posing as the deceased soon to be deployed cousin. There’s something to be said about a man in uniform, but Garth didn’t quite get there and he almost blew it by not knowing that Trevor and Ray were brothers.   Dean scans for EMF, which Garth says he already did, but Dean’s getting some and Garth didn’t (which also explains their teenage years).  Garth figures his EMF reader must be broken but still thinks it’s not quite ghostly given the monster chow leftovers and invisibility.    And now they’re out of clues.

Luckily, Sam’s hit the computer and discovered the dead boys are the sons of the owner of Thighslapper Ale.  Honestly, I had no idea why he would think the company their dad owned was important, but he did and it was so kudos.  Garth has suited up, so now everyone’s a member of the FBI, and they go meet Marie McAnn. In addition to being the deceased sister and the owner’s daughter, she’s also the manager at the brewery.

The guys split up to tackle the interviews.  Sam doesn’t trust Garth to talk to Mr. McAnn so he follows while Dean sticks with Marie.   Marie’s worrying about her dad, who is grieving the lost of his sons and feels responsible for the death of his past partner, Dale.  You know who also blames him for Dale’s death? Dale’s wife, who is suing them.

Sam and Garth cop talk to Jim about his sons, when Randy comes in and agrees to take over for the emotionally drained dad.  Randy’s a family friend, godfather to all of Jim’s kids and feels awful because this should be a happy time; they’re selling Thighslapper to a big distributor.  Way to show compassion there, Randy.   And this is where I found myself realizing that this episode would not be one of my favorites.  First, there were way too many secondary characters I didn’t know.  We’ve got Marie, Randy and Jim among the living, Dale, Trevor and Ray dead and I’m confusing everyone except Marie.  Second, I just did not care.  After last week’s episode, I wanted Sam and Dean to talk more about what happened with Cas!  Going almost 12 minutes without even seeing them annoyed me and then we only got like half a second of them talking about Sam’s wall situation and Cas.

We meet another one of Jim’s daughters (I won’t even pretend to know her name).  She poured two glasses of OJ and is now proceeding to make one a screw driver.  Of course grief stricken, day drinking lady mixes up the glasses and her kid, Tess, takes a gulp of the alcoholic beverage, leaving her intoxicated.  This really doesn’t work for me.  Mom barely poured a shot into a half glass of OJ.  I know Tess is a little girl, but no one gets drunk off a sip of that concoction.  Still, this is where Sam’s earlier The Ring reference comes into play because Tess sees the long dark haired, pale scary girl spirit gut her mom.   If only Sam hadn’t missed The Grudge – the big bad in the movie was a little closer to our big bad and more importantly, we could have had a Sarah Michelle Gellar shout out.  I know that Ringer sucks, but Buffy built the WB and UPN which make up our CW.  Respect, people, respect!

The guys are at a loss, searching for clues at Afternoon Delights, Garth’s motel.  It is the best cheesy, hourly rented motel ever.  Garth defends his choice because he enjoys a good hot tub.  Me too, Garth, but that thing probably has germs worse than the Jersey Shore’s hot tub.  Sam discovers that Dale was the brew master and considered a genius. Dean, our resident beer expert, goes off on a bit of a rant about beer and awards, but has to admit that Thighslapper is awesome when he tries some.  Garth downs his and ends up drunk as a skunk, promptly being regulated to coffee.  He wants the hot beverage with Kahlua and this is such a growth moment for Dean.  Remember back in season 1 all the hell he gave Sam for ordering frou-frou coffee drinks?   He just gives a patented WTF look to Garth and is done with it (if you do a shot every time Sam or Dean shoot one of these looks at Garth for this episode, it will probably become more enjoyable).

Garth’s police scanner picks up there is a disturbance at a McAnn residence.  Garth and Dean go off to see what that’s about while Sam goes to visit the widow.  Dean is so jealous (not that the woman is a hottie, he needs a Garth break).

When Tess won’t open up to Dean about what she see, Garth offers to “take a run at her” and the look on Dean’s face is priceless.  They have VERY different definitions for that phrase.  Turns out, Garth’s definition is to talk to the child using a sock puppet, Mr. Fizzles.  Tess is more taken by the sock puppets button eyes than Dean’s green ones and admits she saw a monster and drank a grown up drink.

Over with the widow, Sammy’s learned that Dale didn’t want to sell Thighslapper as it was his baby and sent his partners a gift, a bottle of Sake in a beautiful box with Asian script that she wasn’t to touch, as a sign of forgiveness.  Sam noticed this box the last time he was at the brewery and isn’t buying that it was a forgiveness gift at all.

On the way to meet up with Sam, Dean realizes that alcohol and the monster are tied together, given that everyone who has seen it or ended up dead had some.  He immediately goes to work with a chug from his flask.  Garth asks Dean about his grody flask which Dean calls Bobby’s and I call heartbreaking.  Garth catches up with the audience and points out that maybe his EMF detector isn’t broken, that Bobby’s haunting Dean and Sam.  Dean reminds us that Bobby’s had a hunter’s burial, but Garth points out that they cremate everyone in India and still have ghosts, so it’s possible.  Go Garth!!

Breaking into the brewery, Sam and Dean find the opened Sake bottle and a security camera, which shows nothing except victim #1 (what was his name again?) knocking over the bottle.  Dean gives his drunken theory and hands off some liquor to Sam.  “Can you even get drunk anymore?” Sam asks.  “It’s kind of like drinking a vitamin for you.” Word.  They should make sure that Sam’s taking care of his liver so that when Dean needs a transplant he can help out (the liver’s regenerative people, they’d only need a little piece of Sam’s liver for Dean.  Both brothers remain alive, no hate mail please).  Dean does manage to find some alcohol that will knock him on his ass (they either couldn’t get product placement here or it’s imaginary, but I really wish I knew what it was) and the boys begin.  The way they’re throwing them back, it’s safe to say they better hope that John has another illegitimate kid out there because Sam’s liver is going to be just as useless as Dean’s.

Dean and Sam get drunk enough to see scary Ring girl, figuring that the kid knocked over the box and let the spirit out.  Randy Baxter walks in, all pissy because the boys are drinking his liquor and threatens to call the real cops (yeah, he figures out Sam and Dean aren’t FBI in that moment too).  Garth saves the day by tasering Baxter –that guy is poison poison – sing it with me people!  Yeah, sorry I could not resist.

Dean and Sam take the box to a Japanese restaurant for some translation and learn that the box contains a Shojo (which is an evil alcohol spirit you can compel to take revenge for you).

Back at the motel, Garth is doing Tai Chi and Baxter’s bound and gagged in the hot tub! Seriously this kid.  Anyway, Dean grabs a bottle to continue his buzz and Sam hops on the computer to tell us how to defeat our Shojo (blessed Samurai sword).  Dean’s pretty sure he can find one in a pawnshop in Kansas and who am I to tell him different? I’ve never been to Kansas.   But before Dean can leave, the EMF detector goes off and Garth tells Sam that he thinks Bobby’s haunting them.  Dean’s annoyed, but Sam admits to thinking the same and has tried to contact Bobby with a talking board.  Dean’s hurt that Sam did this without him and I’m with Dean here.  No contacting Bobby without Dean (or the rest of us).  We loved him too, Sam!  Sam insists he would have told us if Bobby was there, but Dean and I don’t believe him.  And despite this reveal being way more interesting than the Shojo, Dean leaves with a “We’ll talk about this later.”

Dean has found the sword and gotten it blessed by the guy from the Japanese restaurant when Garth calls Dean to give him a heads up that Baxter has a secret love child and tells him the Shojo is at the brewery hunting that kid instead of Marie.  Dean calls Sam to back up Garth, but Sam’s drinking while stalking Marie at the bar and has to commander a taxi.  Does anyone else find it hysterical that DEAN is the only one who is sober enough to drive?

After Garth gives the 411 to Baxter’s love child, he gets knocked out trying to protect the kid.  Sam shows up and also gets knocked out.  Sober Dean shows up and ends up swinging at the air before he gets punched in the gut and I guess abs of steel don’t protect you as well as I thought because he drops the sword.  Miraculously, the sword flies across the floor back to Dean.  Sam’s back among the conscious and after a few missteps the boys get it together and Dean skewers the Shojo and sends Garth and Sam to check on Baxter’s love child.   Admitting to himself that the sword moved, Dean calls out for Bobby (of course Sam is eavesdropping).

With the case solved and no takers for brunch and brews, Garth gives hugs and is out.  This is way more adorable than it sounds.  And FINALLY we go back to the good stuff.

Sam brings up Bobby and Dean’s quick to forgive him for the talking board incident. I’m not there yet boys.  Sam, however, wants to talk about Dean’s outburst at the brewery.  They discuss all the incidents that have happened since Bobby’s death (the flying sword, missing beer, magical page appearance and that revelation of the number who could find Cas).  Sam thinks that for once, they’re just like everyone else, seeing a dead loved one who’s gone.  Oh Sam, I’m glad you’re pretty because your brain isn’t working like it used to when you got your free ride to Stanford. When have you guys ever done anything like regular people? Dean wants to know why Sam didn’t tell him about the talking board and Sam admits to being a little nuts.  While true, I’m thinking he didn’t tell Dean because he knew Dean wouldn’t be able to deal.  I’m really hoping this isn’t a return to all the secret keeping.   The guys are done talking though and decide to head out of town and we see Bobby in the room.  Hi Bobby! We’ve missed you.

As they start to pull away, Dean stops and goes back in to the motel.  “There you are,” he says walking towards Bobby and I’m like FINALLY but he’s just talking to the freaking flask.     Bobby and I are both pretty pissed at this development as the boys drive away.

No new episodes for a bit, so I guess we’re all just going to be rewatching, hoping that this time Dean and Sam will buy the clue and realize Bobby’s still with us! It was intersting at first, but it’s gone on too long and I’m ready for Bobby to be reunited with the boys.  It looks like we’ll get our wish when they visit the most haunted house in America on April 20th.

What did you guys think?  How are you going to spend these next few weeks in Hellatus?