I'm finding the Amelia and Liane dislike saddening. Of course, some people just don't enjoy the dynamic of the relationship, but I feel like a lot of people are reacting like Dean only more so, and venting hostility for the Sam not looking for Dean storyline on Amelia. I think Liane may be having a hard time getting fully into the part, but that isn't terribly surprising or a deep reflection on her skills for me -- a relationship story doesn't lend itself that well to being told in these tiny snippets. I think she would have been better served (for that matter, the narrative would have been better served) by having an episode or so of extensive, connected flashbacks instead of having to film five minutes every third episode.

I'm also having trouble with the flashback structure because I feel like it's getting in the way of Sam and Dean having emotional arcs NOW. It's all very well to gradually explore how they got to 8.1, but meanwhile both of them seem to have stalled out a bit current time.