This is the first episode where Sam & Dean face human villains instead of supernatural monsters. Adapting urban legends is a trademark of the show, and I'm not really sure that this particular tale has a name, but it's still familiar. A family of backwoods crazies kidnap and hunt unsuspecting victims for sport. Anyway, this is a good episode, with a lot of character development between the brothers. Last episode, "Nightmare," made clear to both brothers that Sam's visions are getting worse. For Dean, this knocked his protect instincts towards his little brother into overdrive. And for Sam, it drove him emotionally closer to Dean, who's always been his protector. That bond is shown in "The Benders," as the brothers are separated and end up having to save each other. Basically, if you're watching on DVD, you really shouldn't skip this episode.<br /><br />"The Benders" revolves around Sam being kidnapped by a creepy family, who hunts humans for fun. Dean & Sam have come to town to investigate some unexplained disappearances. Unfortunately, Sam wanders outside alone and is abducted. Poor Sam is soon locked up in a cage on an isolated farm, with another kidnapped man. The crazy family holding them, murders Sam's cell mate and have similar plans for Sammy. Meanwhile, Dean is frantic to find his little brother. So frantic that he actually goes to the police for help, for once. Since he's still wanted for murder (Thanks to that shape-shifter in "Skin" killing those people and wearing Dean's face) Dean lies to a local police officer named Kathleen, telling her that he's from the state police. He convinces her to help him look for Sam. A video camera of the parking lot that Sam disappeared from gives them a clue and soon the two of them are hot on Sam's trail.<br /><br />It turns out that Kathleen's brother was also kidnapped and killed by the crazy family years before. Kathleen is soon abducted by them, too, and Dean has to sneak onto the farm and try to save the day. He is incredibly relieved to find Sammy alive, but he can't get the cages open without a key. Dean is also sort of repulsed by the idea that humans are behind the disappearances. ("Demons I get. People are just crazy.") As he tries to find the key, he is captured, too. The family says that they will kill Sam, Dean, & Kathleen. But Sam gets out of the cage and saves Dean. Kathleen kills the father of the murdering family. Then she tells Sam & Dean to get out of town before the police show up and start asking questions. Sam & Dean start off down the road together again. Dean mutters that the next time Sam gets into trouble, Dean's not gonna come looking to find him. "Yeah, you will." Sam replies.<br /><br />There are some good parts to this episode. I have to laugh when Dean tries to explain why he looks nothing like the real police officer, whose identity he's stolen. He looks at the photo of the large, African American man who he was pretending to be and sort of winces, "Well, I've lost a lot of weight. And I have that Michael Jackson skin disease thing." It makes me smile. I really enjoy Dean when he's all over protective of Sammy. They have such a cute relationship. Dean can go from making fun of Sam's love of the remake of "Godzilla," to begging Kathleen for help because Sam's been his responsibility ever since the fire in Lawrence, to threatening to kill the entire crazy if the touch his brother. Dean's just so cute. And I like Sam in this episode, since it's really Sammy who gets out of the cage. He's pretty clever. And I think it's cool that Kathleen takes revenge for her brother by shooting the creepy father guy. <br /><br />Really there's a lot of people attacking others because they pose a threat to their family in this episode. Dean threatens the crazy family for Sam, the creepy father threatens Kathleen for his family, and Kathleen kills the father because he murdered her brother. It's interesting. Finally, I like Dean's conversation with the creepy family while he's tied to the chair. He's still not willing to back down from being a smart-ass. "Oh, eat me. Wait, no, I forgot, you actually might." But at the same time he's worried about what they might do to Sam. When they tell him to choose which person they'll hunt next, Sam or Kathleen, Dean hesitates. You can see him trying to figure out which option will give Sam the best chance of survival. When the family finally decided to kill both Sam and Kathleen, Dean's rage is actually sort of scary.<br /><br />On the downside, there's something wrong with the way Dean gets out of those handcuffs. Kathleen cuffs him to the car door, and then Dean picks the lock of the cuff around his wrist. But, the crazy family is already coming down the road, as he works on it. Next we see that Dean has escaped and that the handcuffs are gone. But, unless Dean took the time to also pick the lock on the handcuff side that was still attached to the cars door, it just doesn't seem to make sense.<br /><br />My favorite part of the episode: Dean describing himself to Kathleen, while pretending to be a policeman. "Yeah, Dean. He was kind of the black sheep of the family... Handsome, though." It just makes me laugh every time.