This week’s episode was nice enough. What looked like a nice older hunter (Victor) taking in a bunch of scarred teenagers and teaching them hunting, while nurturing them and making them go to school, is really a bitter old hunter that is tricking said teenagers into killing for some weird revenge fantasy and working in cahoots with a bloodsucker. Sam and Dean come to the rescue and figure out the scam, because they are Smarter Than You. Nothing earth shattering, but fine drama nonetheless.

But what really struck me during this episode is the influx if young’uns on this show this season. Actually, it started least season after Bobby died. We got ourselves Garth and ProphetKevin, and this season they have added the Jewish golem kid (a one-off, so far) and the reappearance of Krissy Chambers, and a few of her friends, in this past episode.

Now that Sam and Dean have their MoL lair, and so many of their mentor hunters have bit it, it seems like the show is setting the Winchesters up to be the Senior Hunters in the series, a la Bobby Singer or Ellen Harvelle. A cynical person would think that the network suits pulled the producers aside and insisted that some young faces were added to this long-in-the-tooth show, and I’m certainly cynical enough to believe that could have happened, but if it did, the writers have made the transition quite well. Regardless if this was a calculated suit move, or something the writers have concocted themselves, it feels organic, and I like it. Just as long as those beautiful boys keep on hunting, I am all for it.

I mean, the Lair could become sort of a barracks, Dean could not only gives tips on hunting, but show these youngsters how to change their oil or clean a carburetor. Sammy could show them the ins and outs of his tech-fu on his laptop, or how to grimace appropriately when he or his brother is threatened by the current Big Bad. It has become quite clear that once you have been touched by The Life, it’s impossible to get out, so why not have those boys guide these kiddos through it all? I am pretty sure no one has had as much experience with dying and coming back from those many, many deaths, not to mention their knowledge of the angels and demons and even their possible brushes with God him/herself!

Then maybe Sammy can get his sort of normal life he is pining for right now, and Dean can fill that little-boy sized hole in his heart… it would be great!

But then, it would just be a rehash of this episode, but without the extra dose of CREEPY. So, let them be like Ellen or Bobby, and be on call for tips or backup or just a glass (or bottle) of whiskey at the end of a long day of killin’ monsters. I would like to see some of these newbies again. I’ve come to like Kevin, and even think Garth isn’t so bad anymore. Who knows what these new kids (on the block) could bring.

Quotes!

Dean: “I’ll tell you what, why don’t I go get some herbal tea, and you find some Cowboy Junkies on the radio and we’ll talk it out.”

Dean: “Yeah, well, I don’t care what he is, because he sucks. ‘Cause you and your little crew here got caught, and if it wasn’t for me, your faces would be splattered all over the news.”

Sam: “What happened?” Dean: “Teenagers suck, that’s what happened.” (Me: “YUP.”)

Krissy: “You’re all right for an old guy.” Dean: “Really not that old.” Krissy: “You keep telling yourself that.”

Next! Sammy heads back to Hell? Stupid trials.