This episode gets a hearty HEE! and a little Phew! for letting the boys win in the end. For a second there, I thought it was gonna be another Fail for those pretty, pretty boys, and I was gonna be so annoyed.

We start the show in Grandpa Winchester’s super secret basement of exposition where we get a new cache of witchy books (Giles & Willow would sooooo be drooling over this discovery) and the awesome diary of one Samuel Colt. Seems as though the latest beastie, Eve, can supposedly be taken down by the ashes of a Phoenix, and it is a little disconcerting that my immediate thought is ‘Harry Potter can get you one of those!’. I am such a dork.

Anyhoo, the boys call upon their new bestie, Castiel, only to encounter another exposition fairy/Angel, who is only around long enough to make some worrisome comments about what Cas is up to in his Heavenly War. After making me concerned that my sweet little angel may be doing terrible, terrible things, he agrees to pop those beautiful brothers back to the Olde West to get those ashes. After an attempted ganking of Cas by our new angel (whose name I didn’t bother to remember, because she barely lasted half an episode), Cas takes her out with his big sword… not only am I a dork, but I my mind is gutter-bound as well. Hee.

Dean is back to his old self in this episode, and really, so is Sammy, and it is pure joy to watch the Wonderful Winchesters tromp around the old time-y of it all. Whores are gross and the whiskey is like gasoline and people get hanged in the square and it’s all dirtier than in Dean’s excited mind, but he recovers quickly and brings the HOT in that duster he busts out half-way though the episode.

Sammy introduces us to the infamous Samuel Colt, and he is awesome. Jaded and whiskey soaked, he barely blinks at the sight of Sammy’s Blackberry. Sammy easily proves he is indeed from the future, and Samuel hands over The Colt to kill the Phoenix, who happens to be kind of a sad, heart-broken beastie. I feel kinda bad when Dean kills him, High Noon style in the square, but not bad enough to keep me from making the screen shot of Dean in that hat my new computer wallpaper. TeeHee.

Meanwhile, back at Bobby’s, Castiel shows up all wounded and sexy (sorry, I just can’t help myself!!), and we get some very hilarious and racy dialogue regarding souls and touching, and I have no idea how Jim Beaver kept a straight face though it all. A little nail-biting ensues, and Cas drags those pretty, pretty boys out of Olde Tyme Wyoming  just before they get their hands on the now ashy Phoenix. D’oh!!

This is where I almost get really, really angry, having enjoyed the dickens out of this episode, and thinking that we went through all this brouhaha for nothing. Then the the doorbell rings with a package for our Sammy, and we are Back To The Future 2‘d, and the boys get their ashes after all. PHEW!

I loved how geeked out Dean was in this episode. Not only is he a western fan, but also a Star Trek fan, and he gets to be funny and smart, and I have missed this Dean terribly this season. Great BTTF references, DS9 references, and Bobby even got to shout out Deadwood. Great episode all around!! Now, can we pretty please get at least a peek at this awesome sounding war in Heaven? The season is almost over and we have gotten zilch on that. Just like last season, when we really never saw that damned apocalypse.