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"THEN! Bobby was shot by Dick Roman! Dean suspected he&amp;#039;d returned as a ghost, but Sam talked him out of it. But Bobby had returned - only the brothers couldn&amp;#039;t see him! Balls! NOW! When Dean receives a call from an old friend, he and Sam are drawn into the mystery of a ghostly serial killer. But the situation is more complicated than the brothers first suspect - an old friend lies waiting in the wings... Carry On, My Wayward Son... Last week&amp;#039;s &amp;#039;Party On, Garth&amp;#039; wasn&amp;#039;t exactly this show&amp;#039;s finest hour, but its saving grace came in the final scenes, which confirmed once and for all that Bobby (Jim Beaver) had remained on Earth as a ghost, to aid his surrogate sons Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean (Jensen Ackles). Like this season&amp;#039;s &amp;#039;Death&amp;#039;s Door&amp;#039;, &amp;#039;Of Grave Importance&amp;#039; is all about Bobby. It&amp;#039;s essentially a regular case for the Winchesters - the usual ghostly hokum, with two horror movie clich\u00E9 teens being slaughtered in a spooky mansion - but all seen through the eyes of everyone&amp;#039;s favourite cynical hunter... There&amp;#039;s some fun to be had as Bobby does his best to attract the Winchesters&amp;#039; attention with his feeble early efforts at ghostly telekinesis (&amp;quot;I just made that curtain shimmy!&amp;quot;), but this conceit works best when the action moves to Whitman&amp;#039;s haunted mansion. Bobby can see the multitude of ghosts within, but Sam and Dean can&amp;#039;t - it lends an interesting new perspective to what is otherwise a rather traditional adventure.  Thanks to Bobby&amp;#039;s unique position, we also learn a little more about the ultimate fate of ghosts in the Supernatural world than we knew previously. Living on Earth as a spirit is not, it seems, a long-term option - eventually &amp;quot;ghost&amp;#039;s Alzheimer&amp;#039;s&amp;quot; begins to set in as the spectre drifts further and further away from human life... Credit to the Supernatural writing team too for not dragging out Bobby&amp;#039;s predicament. At its worst, the show can draw out emotional story arcs for far too long - Dean&amp;#039;s lingering concerns over his future as a hunter is a recent example... It&amp;#039;s refreshing then to see the Winchesters learn of Bobby&amp;#039;s return so quickly - via the medium of a message on a mirror - and for them to be reunited with him physically soon afterward. The reunion itself is also well-handled, as brothers deal with their mixed feelings over their mentor&amp;#039;s return - on the one hand, they&amp;#039;re happy to see him, but on the other, they&amp;#039;re concerned as to what fate he has resigned himself to. Dean even appears to resent Bobby&amp;#039;s return, frustrated that his mentor didn&amp;#039;t take his shot at a better (after-)life. &amp;quot;What are the odds this ends well?&amp;quot; he asks - it&amp;#039;s an interesting reaction which ties in nicely with Dean&amp;#039;s own doubts about the hunter&amp;#039;s life.  Of course, &amp;#039;Of Grave Importance&amp;#039; isn&amp;#039;t perfect. The character of Annie (Jamie Luner) is a bit of a non-starter - in Supernatural terms, she&amp;#039;s basically Ellen-lite and is introduced and promptly killed off seemingly just to give ghost Bobby someone to talk to. That said, the character does ultimately serve a slight purpose - her decision to &amp;#039;pass over&amp;#039; contrasts with Bobby&amp;#039;s own choice to dodge the Reaper. And our villain-of-the-week Whitman Van Ness - a serial killer who traps the souls of his victims - is also something of a disappointment. The character could&amp;#039;ve been properly unsettling, but Whitman actor Antonio Cupo&amp;#039;s performance is a little wooden, rendering what could&amp;#039;ve been a memorable villain rather dull. But overall, &amp;#039;Of Grave Importance&amp;#039; is a return to form. After the uneven &amp;#039;Party On, Garth!&amp;#039;, Supernatural comes back strong with a solid episode that deftly combines humour and pathos, even if it is a little short on actual scares. Let us know what you thought of this week&amp;#039;s Supernatural below! "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/tv/supernatural/review/a377968/supernatural-recap-an-old-friend-is-back-in-of-grave-importance/>