Our resident goofball is back on the job, bringing his literal sock puppet to help him get through interviews.
The whole case comes about because of personal greed and revenge, over the fact his two business partners were planning to sell the brewery he saw as "his baby," so after his death he unleashes an alcohol spirit cursed to carry out his revenge, murdering his partners' actual children. The shojo may have been contained in a bottle of alcohol, but it was the curse/spell written on the box the alcohol had been locked in that actually dictated the spirit's course of action. Once released from the bottle, the spirit was still technically bound by that curse and those instructions. More cursed box related imagery, in a season where Leviathans escaped their own "curse box," i.e. Purgatory, and then Castiel's body, to fulfill their imperative of consuming the rest of creation.
Which is the foundation on which the Darkness will be laid in s11, and which will later evolve over Dabb era into the imagery conveyed by the Empty and its Shadow.
Thing is, the spirit can only be seen by people who are drunk. Suddenly, Dean's season-long alcoholism could work in his favor... except... in the climactic fight at the brewery against the shojo, Dean is literally the only sober hunter at the party. What had been a sign of Dean's mental and emotional struggles all season long-- his excessive drinking-- now would've been an asset. Because he'd been out securing the weapon they'd need to kill the shojo, he'd been entirely sober, and as a result is literally fighting blind against the monster.
But there's also the ongoing struggle between Sam and Dean regarding Bobby's ghost. Sam had dismissed every one of Dean's observations that together would appear to suggest they were haunted by Bobby's ghost, to the point where by the beginning of this episode, Sam has actually begun to convince Dean to doubt the evidence of his own mind. Partly because Sam is now "cured" again, while Dean himself has continued to spiral despite Sam having been "fixed." To Dean, this is just one small bit of relief he can once again trust Sam to help him shoulder... but... After one single weird incident with his EMF meter, Garth zeroes in on Bobby's flask and immediately begins questioning if Bobby's ghost might be hanging around:
GARTH: So, uh, what's with the Grody flask anyway? Lucky charm?
DEAN: It's Bobby's.
FLASHBACK to DEAN putting the flask down on the counter at the motel and the EMF reader reacting.
DEAN (in flashback): No microbrew is worth – what was it – eight...
GARTH: Hmm. Really? 'Cause, um... You think there's a possibility that Bobby's riding your wave?
DEAN: No, we gave him a hunter's wake.
GARTH: Yeah, I-I burned my cousin Brandon, and he stayed stuck. And – and – and they got ghosts in India, and they cremate everybody over there. It's just instinct, but maybe there is EMF around here. It just ain't the job.
DEAN: All right, we're not gonna talk about this, okay? Not in the middle of work.
And yeah, first off Dean doesn't really wanna talk about Bobby with Garth, of all people, but second, he doesn't want to have to deal with it while they're in the middle of another case. Plus, talking about it, he'd have to admit that maybe Sam's judgement isn't as trustworthy as he'd previously convinced himself, and after the last couple years of dealing with Sam's trauma and only JUST really getting Sam back whole again (while simultaneously finding Cas again and then almost immediately losing HIM again), this is... not something Dean's willing to drag out into the light and poke at with a stick yet...
But when confronted at the end of the episode by Sam, and of course attempting to uphold Sam's previous assessment that it's all coincidences, he goes through the list of incidents that have him questioning Bobby's ghost theory to explain them all, and the evidence is certainly compelling... but in the end, he does agree with Sam that if anyone would become a ghost, Bobby would know immediately How To Haunt Properly, and would've given them a direct and clear sign that it was really him, instead of all these vague coincidences...
Meanwhile *we* see Bobby's ghost for the first time, but it's clear that Dean still can't. But that will change in
7.19, Of Grave Importance.
SAM: That's why you never answered me. I tried calling you – the, uh, talking board, the works – but I was always alone. Dean always had that thing in his pocket. That's why the EMF only went off half the time. We thought we were going crazy.
No, Sam. You thought DEAN was going crazy... And you just realized that it was the fact that you never tried to run any of these "proofs " WITH DEAN that led to every attempted proof failing. A tidy metaphor about TFW being better when they work together, rather than attempting to handle things on their own in a vain play to somehow "spare" the others.
At least they're on the same page again, finally.
