Season 4, Episode 3: In the Beginning

"I wanna get out.  This job, this life.  I hate it.  I want a family.  I wanna be safe.  You know the worst thing I can think of?  The very worst thing?  Is for my children to be raised into this like I was.  No, I won't let it happen."

This episode is neat.  It explains the "it's you" that we saw Mary give to Azazel during the flashback in All Hell Breaks Loose.  It also, perhaps, explains the "I'm sorry" that Mary gave to Sam in Home.  One thing I've always loved about this show is its ability to make everything that happens mean something later on - for the most part, there is consistency in the episodes, and things happen for a reason, and things don't happen that aren't explained.

• Cas on the bed while Dean is sleeping, and the "what were you dreaming about?"  Seriously, creepy, Cas.
• It's a little weird to me how in 1973, John is Matt Cohen, but ten years later, he's Jeffrey Dean Morgan and then twenty-two years later he still looks just like Jeffrey Dean Morgan.
• Have I mentioned yet that I love Cas's Season 4 hair?
• A 1967 Impala is a big difference from a VW van . . . good choice.
• Love that Dean gives the name "Dean Van Halen"
• I LOVE watching Mary kick the crap out of Dean - so badass.
• The first time I watched this episode, I didn't make the connection that Mary's mother's name was Deana.  I mean - I heard it said, and I read about it afterwards, but it wasn't until later that I realized Dean was named after her.
• "Father Cheney" - I love the subtle Dick Cheney references in the show.
• Also, I love Mary's clothes.
• The scene where Dean begs Mary to remember not to get out of bed on November 2, 1983 . . . heartbreaking
• The conversation between Dean and Cas about how all the people they saved would die if John and Mary never died . . . it was kind of a call back to What Is and What Should Never Be
• Same as when Samuel asks to see the Colt and Dean knows suddenly that it's not actually Samuel - just like when John did the same thing in Devil's Trap that tips Dean off that his father is possessed.
• I forgot that Azazel's deal with Mary was for Sam, not her soul - that it was just an unfortunate run-in when he came for Sam that killed her.
• It makes me sad that John never knew about Mary - I wonder how he would have handled her death if he'd known that she was a hunter, if he'd known that she made the deal that ultimately killed her to save his life
• The end of the episode "stop it - or we will."  Haunting.
• "Son of a bitch" count: SIX!  SIX!!!  Making up for the fact that there weren't any in the first two episodes of the season, I guess.