Review

The episode opens with Anna Milton, an apparent patient at the Connor Beverly Behavioural Medicine Centre, who is able to listen to the Angels. Unfortunately this has allowed her full knowledge of Lilith's plan to free Lucifer via breaking the seals locking his prison. It also attracts the attention of Demons, who would love to know what the Angels are discussing. One comes for Anna, having possessed the body of an orderly, but Anna overpowers him and escapes from the Centre.

Ruby meets Sam and Dean in a bar and tells them demons are tracking Anna. They follow up and find Anna hiding out at her father's church. Ruby arrives and warns everyone they have to get out of Dodge as a powerful demon named Alastair has followed the Bros to the church. A fight ensures with Ruby whisking Anna to safety and the Winchesters only just escaping themselves. Later everyone is reunited at a secret location but confusing things further Castiel and Uriel show up, they want Anna dead.

This episode begins a two parter, I'm assuming it will only run for two episodes, that brings us full tilt into the major plot arc of the season. Anna (Julie McNiven), girl interrupted, has the ability to listen in on the Angels and displays some mental powers that Sam would be proud of. Is she another of Azazel's "special children"? The Demons clearly want her alive, Alastair - who apparently knew Dean from the pit - is one tough hell spawn, while in a shock development the Angels want her dead. Naturally the Winchesters, along with ally Ruby, are caught right in the middle of the Biblical show down and are clearly out gunned. Alastair is able to withstand both Sam's mental exorcism thing and having the demon killing knife stabbed into him, making one hell of a tough adversary for Sam and Dean. Likewise Uriel is right above their pay grade. So the game is on for the next episode with the Winchesters somehow having to protect Anna from both demonic and heavenly forces.

Anna herself presents a more than interesting character, she developed her schizophrenia around about September 18th, the day Dean was pulled out of the pit by Castiel. Could Anna be somehow connected to the heavenly host? Anyways, and let's avoid idyll speculation, Anna can inform us that Lilith is out to break 66 seals to free Lucifer from his "cage" and thus usher in Armageddon. Apparently there are over 600 seals, making it 666 in a sort of trite fashion, hence making the Angels job of stopping the Prince of Hell from resurrecting pretty much impossible. Further we find out that Dean is apparently the center of attention on "Angel radio" while a lot of Angels simply don't like Sam. Anyone else getting the feeling that maybe Castiel hasn't been entirely truthful with the Brothers Winchester, which in itself constitute a sin. Well okay the sin of omission perhaps, but let's not get too pedantic about things. I guess the only other thing I need to say about Anna, fingers crossed she's a recurrent character, is her surname is Milton which I'm guessing is a reference to John Milton the 17th century English poet best known for Paradise Lost. Milton's epic poem covered Satan's expulsion from Heaven to the fires of Hell, which kind of ties in nicely and for mine was a good reference.

Anna brings a new twist to the Angels and Demons thing the Winchesters have going down

The episode finally presents us with the reason why Sam seems to trust Ruby far more than one would normally expect. Sam tried to summon a crossroads demon, but found the demonic salesman who showed up wasn't interest in exchanging Sam for Dean. Sam descended into depression and alcohol, with Ruby surprisingly getting him out of his funk and doing her best to prepare him to face Lilith. Sam seems obsessed with Lilith and is prepared to go after her half cocked, which Ruby interprets as Sam not wanting to survive the encounter. Sam does go after Lilith, but it's naturally a trap with Ruby having to come to Sam's aid to avoid another Winchester casualty. Clearly Ruby pulling him back from the edge has proved her loyalty to Sam, my suggestion would be that Ruby has another agenda, never trust any denizen of the pit would be a horror rule that applies here.

Sam does however still cling to some of his own ideas. He demands that Ruby gives up the current body she is possessing, as the person is still alive, and find another option. Ruby manages to find a woman's body that has just been vacated at the local Hospital. She surprises the medical staff by waking up and demanding to know who she has to kill to get some French fries. This of course is an attempt to build our sympathy toward Ruby, who herself is being hunted by the forces of Hell, but once again I reiterate, never trust a demon.

Surprisingly Dean is prepared to listen to Sam's background story, well excluding the part where Sam and Ruby get it on, and doesn't overly judge the pair. In fact Dean is prepared to apologise to Ruby for his behaviour towards her, which doesn't sound like the Dean Winchester we have all come to love or at least respect. Is Ruby working her black magic on Dean or is the elder Winchester brother so concerned about his brother that he is blind to what is happening?

Once again no addition to the mullet rock play list around Supernatural circles, anymore of this and I'm lodging a formal complaint folks!

Okay I had some fun with this episode, the title is too long to repeat, and surely dug the character of Anna. We're definitely back in the major plot arc for the season, and hopefully we'll get a couple of more episodes to move that particular angle along. I'm looking forward to the next episode to see how the Winchesters are going to resolve this one, I kind of get the feeling the Demons are going to be the next guests to the party. One of those episodes that you really need to be following the show to fully appreciate folks, not one for the sometime viewer.