This review may contain spoilers

While painting a picture of Sam's (Jared Padalecki) rapid mental decline now that he can't banish Lucifer visions anymore -- a decline that is very poorly managed by both boys -- the whole point of this episode is contained in the last three minutes or so where a leviathan claims that they are all just here to help. On the one hand, they are killing, eating and mutating humans, but on the other, they intend to cure cancer. Sounds like a bald-faced lie to me.

In a show that lacks for continuing female characters, it was sad to only hear about antiques shop owner Scott's mother, who was clearly a cursed object hunter of some skill.

While researching the suspicious real estate agent, Dean (Jensen Ackles) runs into a computer problem and gets Frank (Kevin R. McNally) to hack through it for him. Evidently Frank is not as good as he thought he was and gets traced back to his trailer. Reminiscent of Bobby's house fire, Frank's trailer is trashed, Frank is missing and what appear to be splashes of blood decorate the computer monitors.

Despite fine performances from the players, the A and B plots were an awkward fit that combined unconvincingly.

Points Of Interest

1. Dean has watched "Black Swan" twice.

2. Sam's Lucifer vision is torturing him by singing the same song, "Stairway to Heaven," over and over again at high volumes. Consequently, Sam is unable to sleep. Strangely, he deals with this with coffee instead of, say, sleeping pills.

3. Cursed object No. 1: ballet slippers that magically resize for each victim and force them to dance their feet off.

4. Cursed object No. 2: water kettle that forces the victim to drink directly from the kettle after the water boils.

5. Cursed object No. 3: gramophone with whispers embedded in the music that cause the listener to be homicidal.

6. Cursed object No. 4: vintage pornography that causes death by means the show mercifully chooses not to explain.

What Worked

Strong characterizations, snappy dialogue and cute touches like the little girl apologizing as she kicks Dean in the head elevate this show over similar genre shows that take themselves too seriously.

Call it heavy-handed if you like, but CCR's "Bad Moon Rising" is always a good thing.

What Didn't Work

The dancing to death choreography needed a lot more care and thought put into it, because there was just no feeling of jeopardy watching both performances.

All the cursed objects seemed to progress to death in an extremely rapid fashion. Why would they all work so quickly and with the same destination? Why would some not just cause misery or misfortune?

While Joyce's boss-from-hell matched to never-can-win George was cute, it was confusing mixed in with the cursed object hunt, though. Building a medical research facility in downtown Portland makes no sense. Yes, it's probably a lie, but it's not even plausible unless there's a mystic reason for the location.

What's the point of not driving the Impala if you're going to be driving a vintage black muscle car?

Giving Credit Where Credit Is Due

"Supernatural" stars Jensen Ackles, Jared Padalecki, Kevin R. McNally, Bryan Cuprill, Mary Page Keller, Darcy Belsher, Howie Lai, Lindsay Sutton, Cameron Dent, Taya Clyne, Rodger Barton. "Out with the Old" was written by Robert Singer and Jenny Klein, and it was directed by John F. Showalter.

"Supernatural" airs Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET on The CW.