For Jensen Ackles' first stint at directing, he was wisely given a Sam-and-Dean-lite story, which instead concentrates on the show's most resilient supporting character Bobby Singer (Jim Beaver).
Weekend At Bobby's is a long overdue look at Bobby's life outside of being the Winchester brothers' go-to guy - and it turns out that he's the go-to guy for a lot of other hunters as well.
The main plot of this sparkling episode, that really allows Jim Beaver to shine as grumpy old Bobby, is the aftermath of last season's deal between Bobby and everyone's favourite demon, Crowley (Mark Sheppard), for the old hunter to regain the use of his legs.
Turns out Crowley isn't too keen to surrender Bobby's soul back to its rightful owner, so Bobby has to do a bit of digging and find a chink in the demon's armour.
Along the way, as well as giving us insight into the "behind-the-scenes" life of a hunter, we are reminded of Bobby's "interesting" relationship with the local sheriff (Kim Rhodes), he helps Rufus (Steven Williams) dispose of a body and saves a rather love-hungry neighbour (Jennifer Aspen) from attack by a Japanese monster.
With Sam and Dean off hunting a Greecian Lamia, I'm getting the impression that this season's main storyline is something along the lines of the world's monsters now seeing the human population as an "all you eat buffet" in this new, post-Lucifer set-up.
With this and the angelic civil war, it looks like Sam, Dean et al will have their hands full for some time to come.
Oh, and we also discover that Crowley has stepped into Lucifer's shoes (as it were) and is the current "king of Hell" (can't think of a better man for the job).
There's some crackling banter between Crowley and Bobby in a couple of key scenes, with both men showing their great acting chops.
As well as the insight into Bobby's life (and Crowley's pre-demon days), Weekend At Bobby's is also a crucial episode for Supernatural mythology as it introduces us to a new demon weakness (as well as featuring one of the best demon death scenes in the series to date).
Having taken the risk to sideline the show's main stars, Weekend At Bobby's still managed to be a major slice of fan-service as well was a triumph across the board (from Jensen's directorial debut and the central performances of Beaver and Sheppard through to the tight script by Andrew Dabb and Daniel Loflin).
I can see this episode ranking high in a lot of fan's "all-time episode" charts - it's certainly in mine.
Next Week:
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