I have been to Lily Dale (it was just down the road from my college, SUNY Fredonia), and that my friends, was no Lily Dale. Luckily, I know Supernatural is shot in Vancouver, and they did a fine job with this episode, so let’s get on with it!

We open with a stereotypical sham seance that turns into a real, death by ghost one, setting up our episode in the land of the psychics. Dean, after stealing a beater from some poor minor league basballer or something, shows up on his own after hearing about the suspicious deaths on the radio. He amuses his lonesome self by discovering the ‘psychics’ fakery, and decides to head on over to the local diner for some “pancakes and a side of pig”, only to run into PetulantSammy, who is none too pleased to see his big brother, because he is still very angry with Dean over stupid ol’ Amy Pond, like the little baby he is for half of this episode. Dean, doing his best to be a good and cheery big brother, along with being  a good hunter, convinces Sammy to work with him, since neither one of them are gonna leave with some evil ghostie trolling the streets and killing people. They are both in their fake FBI get-ups, which is totally cute, BTW.

We meet the beautiful granddaughter of the now dead psychic, Melanie, who admits to her own fakery in the psychic realm, but can still read people (reading quite astutely the current situation between the brothers), who leads them to the local Emporium for the Orb of Thessela (Thesselay? Buffy shout-out either way), which turns out to be not the problem as it is made in Taiwan and apparently not cursed. Next!

So it seems that the now dead psychics (the third being a Russian spoon-bender, killed by cutlery in an awesomely gory way) have all had a vision of their eminent deaths, and the granddaughters friend, a hilarious Miss Cleo rip-off, sees her tragic demise after bilking some poor woman of a days pay or something. Anyhoo, this leads the boys to embark on a good ol’ fashioned ghost hunt (YAY!) with salt circles (I think they have used more salt so far this season than all of last), and grave diggin’ and bone burnings and I am so very, very happy with you show right now

There is also an awesome moment with Dean and the curator of the local medium museum where Ellen (YAY!!!) channels herself right into the conversation and tells Dean to stop being a horses ass and freakin’ talk to his petulant little brother Right.Now. Much to Dean’s credit, he does just that. Ellen kicks ass, even from the other side.

After much ado about nothing and couple of wild goose chases (all of which was entertaining and fun), they boys salt ‘n’ burn the wrong ghost, and end up losing an innocent life in the process. As the actual, evil ghost shows up for our new psychic friend Melanie, and her and Dean do their darnedest to fight her off, Sammy tracks down the psychic holding the reins, the real baddie of the ep.

Turns out the owner of the Emporium, Jimmy, is a bitter, bitter actual psychic who is not pretty enough and not showy enough to make a living off his natural gift (wah!), and so he had lassoed a former resident of Lily Dale  to get rid of the offending fakers. This gets interesting, when Sammy not only figures out where the bones are just in the nick of time (in Jimmy’s bed! Eww.), but shoots Jimmy square in the chest. Several times!! A jarring event simply because Sammy and Dean always make such an effort to not kill humans (even though several always bite it along the way). Hmm. Sammy did seem appropriately… hesitant? by having to kill Jimmy (and I do believe he had to kill the guy), but I suspect that the demony hell he is living in in that noggin of his made this one action easier. Maybe. That hell stuff is tricky!

We end the episode with a sweet moment between those lovely Winchesters when Sammy leaves Dean and Melanie for a moment alone (aww, just like the old days!) and then. And Then! We get the second honest and open conversation between those two brothers this episode, and Sammy admits to being a bitch about Amy, and Dean admits that he was all torn up about lying to his ginormous little brother, and Sammy puts his stuff in the trunk of NotMetallicar, and OMG they are all made up and off to the next adventure!

Another awesome episode full of shout outs from the past and good ol’ fashioned huntin’ by those beautiful boys and charm and smartness and excellent gore. Everything I want from Supernatural. The writers of this episode have names that sound like some kind of joke when said together, Ben Acker & Ben Blacker, and thank god for them, and last week’s writer Robbie for being geeks and bringing some SAM & DEAN back to the Winchesters. Color me cautiously optimistic about next week’s episode, A Very Sammy Wedding!! Hee.