(which makes me think--I'd love to see the boys create a Hunter as a byproduct of their weekly adventures)

It would be most excellent if a family member of a victim they've dealt with would show up later as a hunter.

but the conviction that he was the stronger of the two, and thus the most likely to be able to kill the demon?

I read it that way. Probably something that the YED told him (even though he's a LYING LIAR WHO LIES) (or was it someone else?!?) convinced him that he would have to do this, and that Sam would be an unfortunate casualty.

(BTW, I'm so proud of Sam for holding strong in the face of this. I think that's all the answer he needs as to the quality of his character. (Because he's not dead, no sir.))

Equality is all well and good, but I believe that is important to keep overdone tropes in mind when creating fictional characters. I see the way that characters are handled within a cultural and historical context. There is a long history of queer characters being punished for their sexuality by death, and that death being associated with a sexual act. So when the only queer character we've ever seen on SPN kills her girlfriend by touching her, it pings me enough to mention it.

Exactly this.

I was pinged by the "dead lesbian" trope, but not Jake. I reacted to Lily's death by rolling my eyes back in my head and muttering, "Oh, show. Honestly."

I don't know if Jake would have pinged me if it weren't for Lily and to a lesser extent Gordon. If I look at it without considering the rest of this ep or Hunted, I would think/agree that Jake was written fairly race neutrally, and the actor just happened to be black.

However, Jake didn't happen in a vacuum. We already had Gordon, who raised some flags, and then the Dead Lesbian/Lesbian sex=death was followed by a black character being superstrong and untrustworthy. I don't think it was intended to be negative or sterotypical, but it did make me roll my eyes and wish they had looked at the total picture more carefully.

It would be most excellent if a family member of a victim they've dealt with would show up later as a hunter.

Which would produce the most irritation for the other brother...a chibi!Hunter who's imprinted on Dean, or one imprinted on Sam?

We already had Gordon, who raised some flags

Remind me which ones these were again?

I didn't realize "blacks are strong" was a stereotype.

I didn't either. But now that it's been pointed out, I can think of other examples.

I actually thought Jake was going against stereotype, because I think soldiers are usually portrayed as white.

My first thought was that they were finally playing soldiers more accurately because minorities have, typically, been sent to the front lines in greater numbers than whites starting with Vietnam.

Remind me which ones these were again?

The Nazi speech, and the end scene with Gordon on his knees surrounded by white cops (though I think one of the cops was black), and there was something else.

IIRC, it didn't ping me as much as it did some at the time, but as part of a pattern, it gets more troubling, at least for me.

I'm a little muddled about what the YED actually wanted (maybe that's because I spent a good bit of the episode saying NO! ASH! and Sammy!) but I'm not sure I believe that Sam's Mom knew the YED, I'm not inclined to believe that he's going to tell the truth, just manipulate Sam.

At first I thought the YED killed Lilly, but that was really Ava, Sam made the assumption that the YED killed her to keep her from leaving but that wasn't true. Ava seemed to be acting like she was in a cage match situation, which I believe but I don't get why she turned to the Dark Side.

Hopefully some of this confusion will be cleared up next week.

Which would produce the most irritation for the other brother...a chibi!Hunter who's imprinted on Dean, or one imprinted on Sam?

I think Sam wouldn't be surprised by a proto!Dean (though I think this brand of hunter would die a lot quicker without proper training, because Dean's no slouch at throwing himself into danger). But a proto!Sam somehow feels weird as a solo hunter. Not that Sam isn't more than competent as a hunter on his own, but I think the show's portrayal falls into the "he's the younger brother" mindset moreso than maybe the character deserves. Sam without a Dean to watch over him feels weird. (And I think Dean would just try to protect a proto!Sam...)

Remind me which ones these were again?

Well, he was black, and turned on the boys, and was generally untrustworthy?

but I don't get why she turned to the Dark Side.

I thought she was getting off on the power.

The Nazi speech, from a black person's perspective, is not that Nazi. It's something I've heard black people say and mean. So that part didn't ping me.

What I found interesting was the assumption that the cops were all white (I had no idea--I remembered two of them, who were white, and couldn't have told you if the others were green or not). Would the scenario be made significantly better or worse by the following:

• Gordon's innocence?
• More black cops?
• Force being used to get Gordon to submit?

See, for me, more black cops makes no difference. If he'd been innocent, it'd have been dependent on the precise scenario. If he'd been innocent and beaten into submission, definitely.

Without either innocence or more brute force I didn't register anything, even intellectually.

And, as noted, that whole blacks are treacherous thing is news to me, so no ping there either.