Supernatural—Red Sky at Morning

Cruising along in the car, Dean interrogates Sam about the missing bullet in the Colt. Thus confronted, Sam confesses to killing the Crossroads Demon. Dean's not happy, saying Sam took too much of a risk. The victim's aunt flirts with Sam, though she's old enough to be their grandma. I like her. The ghost ship lore connects it to strange dry-land drownings. Dean has a panic attack when his car disappears, but then Bela shows up to confess she had it towed. Sam tells Dean he can't shoot her, at least not in public.

Investigation of the ghost ship keeps the Winchester boys crossing paths with Bela. Bela determines to take out the ship, while Sam and Dean try to protect the next victim, but he drowns in his car. The loss hits Sam hard. Bela proposes a plan which gets Dean into a tux and yeah, did anything happen after he walked down the stairs looking all freaking HOT? Dean doesn't really know how to behave like a tux-wearing sort of person, which is ausing given his past ability to blend in with about any crowd. Sam gets to date Gert, the aunt, who's quite happy with the arrangement.

Anyway the plan involves stealing a Hand of Glory that was made out of the sailor who's drowning everyone. Dean and Bela make a good team, with Bela bossing Dean around and Dean whining a lot. But of course Bela has her own reasons for wanting the hand--namely so she can sell it--and when she sees the ghost ship herself, she's forced to go to Sam and Dean for help.

Since the spirit is only going after people who shed their own family's blood, and since she stole the hand from them, they're not too inclined to help her, but they do, anyway, summoning the sailor's spirit. There's a lot of rain and a lot of Latin, and Bela nearly drowns, but in the end the spirit faces the spirit of the brother who hanged him, and they blow the special effects budget in a final, watery confrontation between the two ghosts. She gives them part of her take in return. Dean decides to take the money to Atlantic City. I've been there, Dean--it's kinda boring.

Then we wrap up with another confrontation between the brothers, Sam angry with Dean for not caring about his impending death, Dean obviously caring so much about it he's scared shitless and far beyond talking about it.

So, a bit of angst, a good ghost story, a large dollop of humor, and Dean in a tux. In a lot of ways this wasn't a stellar episode, but it was very entertaining. The drownings harked back to "Dead in the Water," maybe a little too much, especially in the tub scene, and the final confrontation was strongly reminiscent of the final confrontation with the ghost in Angel's Season One episode "Rm w/a Vu." I very much enjoy the dynamic between Bela and the boys, especially Bela and Dean, and any excuse to get Ackles into a tuxedo is fine by me.

Bones—The Intern in the Incinerator

A female body is found burned crispy in the incinerator at the Jeffersonian. Angela is able to ID the skull just by looking at it, because she knew the victim. She was a Jeffersonian intern, Kristen Reardon. She had been having an affair with a married man who also worked at the Jeffersonian. Kristin was involved in authenticating the artifacts from the serial killer case, which appear to be from an anti-Masonic, anti-Illuminati group called the Gormogon. Booth finds a suspect in Kyle Aldridge, the married man Kristin was having an affair with. Cam tells the gang they're trying too hard to connect the murder with the serial killer case. In the end, the murder proves not to have been related to Gormogon, but to a smuggling ring working within the Jeffersonian.

In a well-played and funny subplot, Cam asks Booth to accompany her to her dad's birthday party, as her fake boyfriend, since they don't know he and Cam broke up. Cam's sister makes moves on Booth when she thinks he and Cam might be having relationship issues. Booth goes to Hodgins for advice on what to do about Cam's sister, but all Hodgins can do is giggle at him. Finally, Booth confesses to Cam what happened. The sisters admit neither of them wants Booth, and reconcile in a sisterly alliance against him.

The case tonight was well-constructed, and the character-related subplots were really well-done. I was glad to see Cam with a larger storyline this week, as I really like her character and love the way she interacts with Booth. I also liked the interaction between Booth and Brennan. The scene involving Booth knowing Brennan's passwords, and the reflection over Dixie cup shots at the end, both displayed more bonding and intimacy than any traditionally "romantic" interaction between them ever could.

Heroes—Out of Time

Back in the past, Kensei has gone totally evol, keeping Hiro drugged up on opium fumes so he can keep the girl. Yaeko frees herself and Hiro teleports them out. Somehow Hiro still things Kensei has a heart of gold. I think Hiro's being just a little too good-hearted here. He gives Kensei a second chance to help him destroy all the guns. No go. Kensei is still bad. And goes boom with all the guns, as Hiro teleports out of the storage building.

Hiro has taken Kensei's place in history, but Kensei's story doesn't have a happy ending. He resolves to return before he messes history up even more, and makes with the smoochies with Yaeko before he goes. He appears in Ando's cubicle, back in the present. Ando breaks the news about Hiro's father. This story was best, I think, in its conclusion. Obviously Kensei's been set up for later movements on the chessboard, revealed later in this episode. It's too bad the story seemed to drag so much before finally getting to the point.

In the Ukraine, Bennet takes pictures of the new paintings. It's a series that leads up to his own death, one of which shows Mohinder with a just-fired gun. A Company-issued gun. Mohinder isn't too sure about his alliance with Bennet now that Bennet seems to have gone kind of apeshit. I'm not too sure about Bennet now, either. He seems to have left his character behind back in episode two or so and is now being inhabited by somebody else.

Nathan and Matt show up to warn Bob of his imminent death. Bob suggests they inject Maury with the virus, and charges Matt with this task since he shares his father's abilities. Bob tells Nathan Peter's alive. Except oops, they lost track of him. Nathan is Not Impressed.

Niki sees DL--vision or real life? Maury has been fiddling with Niki's mind. She injects herself with the virus, thinking it's the only way to save herself.

Matt drops by to see coma!Molly. Caught in Molly's dreamscape, Matt drags Maury in after him. Matt escapes the dreamscape with Molly and leaves his dad behind, effectively incapacitating Maury and rescuing Molly. Oh, by the way, we've got another M there with Maury. Mohinder tries to cure Niki, but she has a new virus strain that can't be cured by his blood. There's no cure for this version of the virus. Bob suggests Claire could help heal Niki, and sends Mohinder out after Mr. Bennet. With a Company-issued gun. Mohinder's surprised by the murder in the Ukraine--enough so that he spills to Bob that he's been working with Bennet. Apparently that smack in the nose affected his brain. He's still awfully pretty, though, although the big white Band-Aid is a dubious fashion statement at best.

In future (2008) New York City, Peter and Caitlin find themselves alone, as the city has been evacuated. Apparently this has something to do with an epidemic, because people in HazMat suits show up and drag Peter off to decontamination, where he is stripped and hosed down. Yeah, that was nice...*rewinds DVR* Caitlin's deported back to Ireland. The population has been decimated by the Shanti virus. I get distracted thinking about The Stand. Peter is reunited with his mom, who of course he doesn't recognize. She tells him Nathan is dead--he died in the first outbreak of the virus. Peter starts to regain his memory. Seeing Caitlin being dragged away with other folks being deported, he freaks out and accidentally teleports himself again. To a place where he meets up with Adam. Who's Kensei. The plot thickens. Finally.

West drops by Claire's house with waffles. Dude, he has totally gone stalkeriffic. I don't like him. I think I mentioned that already. Their prank has made the local paper. I have a moment of hope Claire is coming to her senses, but then she kisses West. Damn. West freaks out when he sees Bennet. Maybe that'll scare him away permanently. *crosses fingers* Bennet finds out about West and tells the family they're moving. Claire puts on her teenage rebellion shoes and says she's not going.

I thought this week's episode was considerably stronger than last week's, and there's some serious groundwork being laid for the future plotline. I didn't miss Maya and Alejandro and Elle a bit--are you surprised by that? This show is strongest when it focuses on the central story, and this week all the plotlines converged on that central story, which is a good thing.

Next week, we find out what happened in the four months between "How to Stop an Exploding Man" and "Four Months Later." I'm intrigued.