Perhaps as some kind of fall finale bonus, we get not one but two episodes tonight. One episode is suspenseful and emotionally intense, while the other is plodding and agonizingly boring. Unfortunately, both of these episodes are crammed into one time slot, shuffled together like a mismatched deck of cards.

The suspenseful episode: Benny the vampire has taken a job as a cook at a diner in his hometown of Carencro, Louisiana. He seems to be keeping his nose clean and even has a lovely friendship with a co-worker named Elizabeth. Nonetheless, a hunter is on his trail and it's Martin Creaser, whom we last saw in the loony bin several seasons ago. One night when a diner patron ends up dead and chewed up about the throat, Martin calls Sam Winchester with the news. Why? Because Sam is the one who sent Martin -- fresh out of the psych ward -- to keep tabs on Benny. Martin didn't actually see Benny kill the guy, but he's convinced of his guilt. Sam confesses all this to Dean, who is understandably upset, but manages to finagle some time to check up on Benny himself. Benny says that a vampire named Desmond is in town, blackmailing him into joining his nest by framing him for murder. It's all pins and needles as Dean and Benny go to hunt down Desmond because the story could go in either direction. Is Benny off the wagon or is he telling the truth? It turns out it's the latter and the two friends dispatch Desmond together. That's not good enough for Martin and Sam, though. Martin knocks Dean out cold and chains him up while he and Sam go after Benny. Lucky for Benny, Sam gets a text from Amelia and speeds off into the night to go after her. Martin, left to his own devices, threatens to kill Elizabeth, who turns out to be Benny's great-granddaughter. For some agonizing amount of time, it seems that Benny is going to sacrifice himself in order to save her.

The boring episode: Sam has more of his haze-filled Kermit, Texas flashbacks. He wants to stay with Amelia even though her dead husband Don isn't dead anymore. Then he actually meets Don, who seems like a real stand-up guy and has a change of heart.

The reality: Of course, there aren't actually two episodes. It just feels that way. In an effort to blend the disparate plots together, it's revealed that it was Dean who sent that text to Sam. He smartly used a burner cell phone to mimic Amelia's in order to draw Sam off the hunt. When Sam arrives in Kermit, he discovers that Amelia seems quite happy with Don.

At the end, Elizabeth summons Dean back to Carencro, where he discovers Martin dead -- his throat ripped out. Benny is nowhere to be seen, but presumably still alive somewhere. Martin totally had it coming, but Sam is predictably pissy about the whole thing, even though he's the one who set events into motion. Dean tries to explain, but Sam won't hear it. He would rather drown his sorrows at a local bar, where Amelia finds him so they can possibly attempt to reignite the soaking wet box of matches that was their relationship. That, for some reason, is the cliffhanger that's supposed to tide us over until January. In the meantime, stay tuned for the full recap.

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