 Ah, Benny. This was an unfortunate loss for you, my friend. Ooh, that's a hot mug, guys. Hey guys, this is my review for Taxi Driver, episode 19 of Supernatural Season 8. And this one is a mixed bag. I like a lot of what happens in this episode, and I also don't like a lot what happens in this episode. There are some really cool cameo moments. There's some really cool story-structure moments. There's a pretty heartfelt moment. There's also some incredibly stupid lore-breaking leaps of logic and throwaways of deaths that just are here for the sake of it. And it makes sense because it is written by Eugene Ross Lemming and Brad Buckner. Sam has to try and do the second trial, and to do so he has to go into hell and raise a innocent spirit back up to heaven, being Bobby. But before that, we have Kevin Tran having nightmares and hearing Crowley speak to him. And throughout the whole episode you are wondering what is actually happening, and you never fucking find out what. It's just happening for the sake of happening. So it's never actually explained how on Earth Crowley is talking to Kevin, except possibly through his mom somehow, but that's not explained either. Somehow Palpatine returns. And it's even worse when Crowley is able to enter the ship. I know he's the king of hell, but what was the point of all the wardings and everything? And then oh yeah, Kevin Tran's mom's dead. I don't know if they couldn't get the actress back for this episode or what not, but it's kind of a really bad throwaway death. And it's not the only one. They find out that there's actually been coyotes apparently that have been getting demons out of hell this whole time. It kind of makes it seem a little bit silly because we always had the idea that they were literally crawling and fighting their way out of hell. And so this idea of a coyote, I mean that's not the worst, but it's also kind of like at the same time Sam has to go alone though. He goes with the coyote guy by himself, which then takes him to purgatory, then tells him you got to go this certain path to get into this tiny little rock into hell. Crowley knows what's up because he's got people who apparently Sam and Dean are just not at all casual about talking about a very specific, very, very sensitive subject matter. Like we'll just talk about it out loud like it's a normal everyday conversation. They're evil to relay that to Crowley. Crowley kills the coyote, so when Bobby and Sam are getting out of hell, they get into purgatory, they're trapped, but there is one person who can help them. And it's the guy that we have kind of left off to the side this whole time. Benny, just how his character is gone, it makes sense that this is how his character ends. However, it is so slapped in. It feels insulting. However, and I'm speculating here because I am hearing it from people who have worked with him, I have heard that the actor Ty Olson is not exactly the nicest guy to work with. He's a bit so that might have led to why his character got killed off. Maybe it starts off pretty good. When he and Dean meet, you can see Dean is in pain asking this favor of his friend, the person who got him out. He's asking him to literally go back into the place that they fought tooth and nail to get out of. But Benny is of a sound mind to want to go and do it. I like the handshake beforehand. I like it where he's like going to attack him, but no, he holds out the hand. And that's just Dean kind of coming full circle in terms of realizing that there can be some good in people. And that has been a bit throughout this whole season. It was even in the last episode as much as I hate that last episode. Benny meets up with Sam very conveniently. Hey, there's vampires. I'm gonna go fight him. Oh, I'm getting my ass kicked. That's it. And the last shot is just felt so throwaway. I felt like this was such a poor end to a character. The best you could have done is have him facing off and killing those three vampires. Like he got taken down by three fucking vampires. Are you serious? Have him kill those vampires and maybe look up at the hill and be like, maybe he thinks about it, but then he turns around and then there's 20 more of them. And he's like, nah, this is where I belong. That would have been so much better than what we got. The best part definitely is when Sam gets into hell and there's all these random things. Like he would have thought there maybe could have done a few more like cameo or like a who kind of what who else is down here sort of ideas. But when he goes to find Bobby and Bobby punches him because like I've seen like 200 of you and Dean every day. And then as they're getting out, there's that one poet and demon pretends to be Sam and Bobby stabs one. And he's like, you knew it was me, right? That was good. I thought that part was funny. Sam and Bobby are able to get out of purgatory, they meet up with Dean, but then Crowley is there to stop Bobby from going up to heaven and Naomi appears and she helps them out by making Crowley go away. Bobby's able to go up to heaven, come back to the ship to find Kevin's gone. Like I said, this episode is a mixed bag. I like moments like when Benny is willing to go down back to purgatory. I like his conversation with Dean. I kind of like the idea of a little bit of a fetch quest to go in and try and find these secret ways in and out. The coyote thing being a little bit silly. I do like the idea of Kevin Tran being tormented by Crowley, but they don't really do a good job of explaining how. I did like Bobby coming back. This felt like an actual significant story, even though it kind of does, like I said, break the lore because you kind of got the opinion that he did go up to heaven when they let him go, but you didn't see where he went. So yes, it did work somewhat in that. But then as I said, the lore breaking with a couple of things with Kevin Tran and Crowley, that doesn't make any sense. The idea that it's been coyotes this whole time and not really people actually getting out of hell, Dean's getting out of hell. The fact that Benny is just kind of thrown away haphazardly, it very much screams a lemming episode. It screams it from the, from how everything is put together. It's not a negative episode, that's for sure, but it definitely is a very messy one. Kind of a disservice considering that two characters got killed in this one. One we didn't even fucking see die on screen. So in the end, my review for Taxi Driver is a 4 out of 7. Oh boy. But those are my thoughts about this episode. Let's see what you guys had to say. We've got an interesting variety with these ones. Taxi Driver is one of my favorite episodes of the season. Seeing Bobby come back and Sam and Purgatory gets pretty cool to see. And Benny's death, in my opinion, is pretty sad and Crowley is a great villain. Great episode. Taxi Driver to me, as best described, is a bittersweet experience. I love the peneptual trial involves rescuing an innocent soul from hell. It's a cool concept for the show to explore roared rogue reapers that are unfortunately never brought up again in the show. Absolutely. Very much a dab, kind of like idea. So like, yeah, Carver was guilty of it too. Most fans would tell you that it's a wrecking and ridiculous concept, seeing how difficult it is for Crowley and Castiel to find Purgatory. My reasoning is reapers can only be seen by the dead and when they want to be seen. Plus, it would never occur to them that the reapers to reap monsters to Purgatory. It also adds interesting lore that an angel blade can kill reapers. I also love that the episode for making hell a torture chamber opposed to a gag of just some damn waiting in eternity a DMV line. It's good to see Bobby again seeing him kill fake Sam in the real Sam questioning. Yeah, that was pretty funny. Bobby upset with Sam not looking for Dean and Dean budding up of the vampire shows why things have drastically been different if Sam wasn't cut off from his support system at the end of season 7. This episode really hurt for me for Dean killing Benny. The one character who has always been loyal to Dean. It's understandable how alienated and lonely Benny feels seeing a how taboo being a monster is in the human dominant world. This is the lead scene in the episode where Benny reveals he ended up feeding on humans, but thank god that was omitted or it would have really tarnished Benny's character. Ooh, yeah, ooh, yeah, glad they cut that out. Sam realizing just how good Benny is made me hopeful that he would return in season 15 made it clear my feelings didn't matter about the idea. I love how the episode delves into Kevin's struggle, how much he's working to translate a demon tablet with Crowley plaguing him with brutal nightmares. Crowley kidnapping Kevin had me in real suspense and shows how Crowley is a big bad of the season. It did, but also at the same time was kind of like how did you how did you get in there? Plus the episode really utilized Naomi really well as a villain for the episode two of how manipulative she is. I know my commentary about this episode is long, but it lets a lot to unpack and it just shows how great of an episode it is in my opinion. Turns out using a kid as a tool instead of a person was a bad idea. Backfire, whoops, great job Dean and Sam for not saying more. Great to see Bobby again, kind of sad he isn't really ready to move on even from death, but hey, yeah, that's Bobby for you, absolutely. Even though it's good to see Bobby and the rogue reaper thing didn't make sense to me because wouldn't tests or a death have figured out how to put a stop to the situation. Poor Kevin, he truly has been through the ringer. I mean it was surprised and happy to see Benny one last time. It was sad and how a story came to an end at the moment he left Purgatory with Dean. He's only suffered heartbreak and loss and it makes sense that he would rather choose to stay in Purgatory. Love seeing Naomi confronting Crowley and helping Bobby. That's the only time I ever liked her. Nah, that's probably a resounding consensus from a lot of other people. Taxi driver is definitely one of my top 10 episodes of the season. I love seeing Bobby again. However, the only problem I have is the one with the reaper that takes Sam to Purgatory. It literally took Cass and Crowley a full season to open the damn door and again later in season 13 and 15 they all they had all of us trouble and yet the boys couldn't couldn't get just get a reaper to help them get from one end to the other. Anyways, I would rank this as a four out of five had they not introduced Cesta Reapers for the back door to Purgatory. Yeah, that's the thing that I kind of find so stupid about it. It's just like a very easy ploy to get through. Like it's a very easy work around to something that had been like you said long worked on. Martin, I'm gonna kind of skip yours here because this is essentially just a recap of what happened. This isn't really opinion. It's kind of I mean, it is a good synopsis. Taxi driver is one of my most hated episodes. Ah, here we go. Now we got some people with some negative on paper. I don't mind it, but it was at this point that I was actively questioning whether or not people making the show had watched the show previously because it goes against so much was built before all of season six was about finding the place no one could get to. But I guess no one spoke to a reaper or knew anything about what they what they do right. The idea of the second trial being free a soul from hell and delivered upon to heaven is a good idea except Sam physically goes there like with his body. I despise this choice in my eyes. It should have been a human goes to hell. They die only a soul can move through hell. It feels like a waste to kill Benny off like this. They should have done more with his character because he was pretty awesome. Don't get me wrong. I don't mind him going out the way he did because it was a sacrifice for Dean, but I still think his character could have been more. Absolutely. I've had a hard time with this season to rewatch a dislike a lot of the choices and apart from a handful of episodes, this season comes off as mid at best. I agree with you actually about like it might have been a little bit more because you would have thought that Sam would have been pretty traumatized to go back to the place that he was basically torn apart by Lucifer for God knows how long on popular opinion, but I didn't like this episode. I didn't hate it or it thought it was bad, but there are things that just kept me from enjoying it. First off, the dumbest plough hole and hit in this season was Kevin being on a random boat instead of the bunker. Yes, very much agree. I think they just forgot to move in there. Seriously, I know the writers are fixated on keeping the brothers together, but they couldn't have had Kevin in the bunker or not have him appear in any other episodes. It's not far fetched of an idea considering what they do next season. I get they needed Kevin to get captured, but couldn't the writers have done so without making the brothers look like jerks for not inviting Kevin to their cool secret Batcave? Next part is Bobby, who also is the main reason people like this episode. Yeah, I love seeing him again in his scenes fighting out of hell was epic, but the logic behind it made no sense. I'm just not talking about them rewriting the show's Reaper lore for this one episode and never bringing up again. I'm talking about Crowley having Bobby's soul and he never once used it as leverage on the brothers or used it to taunt the brothers. That is also a very good point. How does it make any sense? Does that not sound like Crowley to you, especially when you remember the psychological tactics he used in the second to last episode of the season? And then there's Benny where, yeah, like say, especially with how Clipshow goes, you would have thought that he would have been working towards that. And then there's Benny. While I was sad to see him go, I was okay with him being him going out on his own terms, but I want to have a problem with this Sam. Specifically, the fact that he never apologized to Dean are Benny about his behavior. Sam was wrong about Benny, but he doesn't apologize for it. And yes, Dean had been a jerk to him about Amelia, but Dean had apologized and showed genuine remorse for how he acted. And he also had seen what I've been seen worrying about Sam post Amelia's second breakup, but shows no sign that he feels bad for making Dean cut ties with Benny or Benny's death. Hell, he throws Benny's friendship and Dean's face in the season finale. The whole thing just felt bit like had a bitter taste. So that's why I'm not a fan of this episode, but I get other why others like it, it's just wasn't free. Very much the same, very much the same opinion as you. I don't like this episode. There's a rogue Reaper and death is just not doing anything about it. The whole to hell in purgatory for Reapers to just get souls and barely no one knows about. I find that hard to believe a cave with rushes of wind can be hidden. The Weeknd at Bobby's episode was pointless if Crowley could still force his soul into hell. Benny dying really, really was not a good move. He was a great character and had some more room to grow for him to get killed off and sent off like that was crap. Sadly, he was killed offscreen in season 15. Yeah, they brought him back for that like one random dream thing, right? And then they never saw him again. Alright guys, that is it. We are now on to episode 20. Pac-Man fever is next. We've got Charlie coming back, which is great. Always like having Charlie around, hopefully. Hey, the guy from the good places in this episode. Oh, that's gonna be cool. Give me your guys thoughts about that episode in the comments and I'll read those off in the next review. It's getting close, guys. It's getting really close in terms of how the season's gonna turn out and compare some to the others. I guess we'll find out. Anyways, I hope you liked the video. If you did, leave a like and if you're interested in more, subscribe. Until then, see you guys in the next one.