If Sam is just finding out about the weasel riding the woodpecker (This seems totally plausible to me. These boys are busy hunting monsters and saving our asses pretty much all the time), just wait until he finds all the memes that were spawned from that picture.

So, our boys are sitting around with not much to do, catching up on the interwebz and seeking out horrifying takes on what should just be a yummy burger (two doughnuts? really?), when they get a call from Claire, who is sure that there are monsters out there. She just needs the boys to come and confirm.

Sioux Falls, SD! (This may be the most visited city of the show, right? Seeing this is where Bobby lived, and so does Sheriff Mills)

Jody comes home from picking up Alex from school in her bad ass Sheriff pick-up truck, pulls into the driveway, and spots Baby. The very thing that every person who watches this show wishes would happen to them. Jody greets the boys warmly, not knowing why they are there, but happily gets dinner ready for her girls and those beautiful boys.

The ensuing dinner table scene is a master work of family awkwardness, hilarious in its speed at which it careens from monsters to birth control to fights over the mashed potatoes. I loved it. It’s nice to see the Winchesters out of their element from time to time.

(A quick aside – I have always been a fan of how this show handles sex. I have a lot to say about this subject, but as far as this episode goes, I like how this whole birth control thing was dealt with. There isn’t any shaming or fingerwagging, just people trying to deal with issues. I give props to the writer of this eppy, Nancy Won, for making this subject entertaining and believable.)

After the boys only Epic Fail in ages – not being able to master the minefield that is teenagerdom – Jody opens up to Dean (as he helps with the dishes!!) about how hard it is being a single mom to two teenage girls, but that while Alex has seemed to have settled in quite nicely, Claire is skipping classes and becoming obsessed with hunting. Dean hears Jody’s plea’s, and decides to send Sammy in for the talk.

When Sam knocks on Claire’s door, not only is she on her laptop doing research, but she has the FauxGrumpyCat stuffed animal that Castiel gave her tucked under her arm. D’awww. Sometimes this show gets me right in the feels.

Sam works his Sammy magic, and convinces Claire that the opportunities at family and school are the things she should concentrate on right now, and it’s sweet because Sam knows exactly how important finding some piece of normal is when you are a hunter. Suddenly, I don’t hate Claire quite as much.

Of course I immediately take that back when everyone arrives to school the next day to find their favorite teacher dangling dead from atop the flagpole. This sends Claire right back into hunter mode, and it is time for Dean to take a crack at parenting, Dean Winchester style. He basically tells her to stop being a dick, back-off and play it cool. Running in half cocked will not do! And then Dean tries to give the stink eye to Alex’s boyfriend Henry, and Dean as protective daddy is a joy.

Sam and Jody sniff out the janitor, who has a alibi, but not a valid social security number. While Jody has finally gotten Claire to agree to re-up with her college classes, the janitor decides it’s time to put his plan in motion. First, he brutally attacks Jody and Claire in the garage. It is a horrible fight, but Jody is able to get a call to Dean before they are punched, kicked and dragged away.

Sam and Dean rush back to Jody’s house, and seeing the scene before them, they know it’s time to jump into action. Dean calls Alex to tell he’s on his way to get her, but her stupid boyfriend turns out to be a vampire too, and he drags her off to the abandoned pool at the back of the school. Janitor tells his sad tale and plans for revenge as Jody and Claire eyeball the weapons within a few feet of them.

We know that Sam and Dean are on their way, but this is a very tense scene, and these days, Jody Mills has been on the show enough times that I worry for her safety anytime she shows up. You know how this show loves to kill people!*

But Sam arrives and engages in an extended fight with Henry, while Claire and Jody get their hands on the knife and pipe, attacking the janitor. Dean shows up just in time to behead the freshly stabbed-by-Claire janitor vampire, and Sam finally gets control of Henry and hands him over to Alex. Alex punches him and then Claire finishes him off by beheading him. EASY.

Jody wakes up the next morning to her girls making her breakfast, and and extra dose of Mommy feelings for the girls. Sam and Dean show up for leftovers, I guess, which Sam is especially excited about, and Dean makes a final check-in Jody, because Dean is sweet and adorable.

ANVIL ALERT: Sam is Alex and Dean is Claire. While Claire was less irritating this episode, it was nice to see her get the message about not being a dumb-ass, she was still too irritating for my tastes. I liked getting to know Alex a little better, though.

Quotes

Jodi: “Winchesters.” Alex: “Why would they be here?.” Jodi: “I didn’t put up he bat signal.”

Jodi: “I didn’t know about Cosplay before that. Super embarrassing for me and the whole department.”

Dean: “I thought we’d be talking about monsters, not birth control.”

Dean: “Nobody wants to go to school, it’s school.”

Jodi: “It had to be the leg. I’m gonna need bionics.”

Claire: “I solemnly swear to not hunt like a dumb-ass. ”

Jodi: “As long as everyone wears a condom, we’ll be fine.” Dean: “I want that bumper sticker.”

Next! A Valentine’s Day I can get behind!

*Once again I have been hearing the rumblings in the fandom regarding the treatment of the ladies of Supernatural. This is bullshit. This is a show about two brothers. It is about how men deal with each other, their feelings, and I find it very successful most of the time. The very suggestion that there should be more women, or that they should stop killing the female characters is ludicrous. One of the main tenets of capital F feminism is that men and women are treated equally. Now has this show been perfect on this front? Of course not. But this show has had strong female characters with their own agendas since the beginning. A majority of the female characters on this show has been tough, kick-ass characters, and they get to die horrible deaths just like all the male characters who have gone down over the years. The idea that this show should shift it’s main focus to include more women, or to even keep one around simply as an equality thing makes me shake my head. I don’t watch this show for strong female characters, but I have gotten a lot of them over the years, and it was one of the few shows that has women on simply as a character, not a girlfriend or wife. In the eleven years this show has been on, there are more strong women populating our TVs that ever, and to get after this show for not having more women, or for killing them is missing the point of this show. I am so sick of hearing about this.