It was like they done 90-second version of “What Is and What Shall Never Be,” in which Sam and Dean smiled a lot, and wore track pants and rode bikes. And it reminded me, more effectively than any angsting, how miserable the boys’ lives ordinarily are.

I would totally agree with this but for the fact that J2 were so obviously hamming it up that it was impossible for me to see the characters themselves. And now that really irritates me, because I think, as you suggest, that set of sequences could have been something so much more meaningful.

Which is psychologically and ethically interesting, granted, but pretty damn static as a narrative.

Well put.