that works too - it just seems to be what confounds the Trickster in stories

My theory is that Ruby put the Trickster up to this. His argument to Sam about the futility of self-sacrifice seemed designed to get Sam to "prepare for this war" the way Ruby wants him to do. And in their last encounter, the Trickster really liked Dean, while he didn't think much of Sam one way or another; so his focus on causing Sam pain seems rather unmotivated, really.

I like that! I've been wondering why the trickster cared so much about teaching Sam that lesson. I can see it if Sam was being cocky/full of himself about saving Dean, because then it would be his just desserts, but he really hasn't been.

the cut of him making the bed and eating especially made my skin crawl.

I only saw Taxi Driver once and I don't remember it in detail. I understand that Travis Bickle is the De Niro character [link] and I'm guessing that line was to reinforce the creepy cold blooded scenes that we watched of Sam, but can someone explain the "in a skirt" part to me? I'm feeling really dense, but I don't get it.

I'm glad you asked Austin, because that's not part of my cultural knowledge either.

I think "in a skirt" just means a sort of wussy Travis Bickle. Like, crazy, but not *that* crazy. Yet.

I think there's more to the Trickster's plan. Maybe. Or maybe I just think that he actually *had* a plan, rather than simply screwing with them. By the end, he seems awfully invested in getting across to Sam that he's going to go darkside if he keeps up his scary obsessive quest for vengeance, or to get Dean back.

He seems to be trying to get Sam to understand that it wouldn't be a good thing if that happened, that the other bad guys *know* it will ("Dean is your weakness, and the bad guys know it" = paraphrase) eventually. But why wouldn't he want Sam to embrace his powers and/or his Boy King destiny?

Ruby certainly wants him to. The demon Dean bonded with in Sin City wanted Sam to. Does that mean the Trickster has already thrown in with the "other power rising in the west"? Or does it simply mean he's one of those like Spike in Becoming, who likes the world the way it is ("Happy Meals on legs") and isn't interested in full-scale war?

It's possible I'm overthinking this. But it seems like if it were only the Trickster's way of repaying Sam and Dean for trying to kill him in Tall Tales, he wouldn't have gone to such lengths, and certainly wouldn't have bothered to give Dean back to Sam.

That's where I am, Amy. Like, a world where demons win wouldn't be any fun for the Trickster and he is trying to help Sam think outside the box, as it were, by showing him where his default reactions will lead.

That "for me to know and you to find out" thing he said after the Travis Bickle comment seems to hint that the Trickster knows something or has some kind of investment in Sam's future.

I still don't understand Ruby's motivation, so if she's behind the Trickster I am in the dark.

I think "in a skirt" just means a sort of wussy Travis Bickle. Like, crazy, but not *that* crazy. Yet.

Thanks Amy. "In a skirt" just kind of threw me. Suddenly I was trying to decipher an adult Dr. Seuss line.

I do not like him in a skirt, I do not like him in a shirt.

However, I very much like him without a shirt, and like him in that towel, which was kind of like a skirt...

Yes, yanking my brain back to the Excel tutorial I'm supposed to be reviewing right now. Ahem. But thank you for the pleasant little interlude, there.

I would comment about the Travis Bickle thing but I am still stuck on the shot of Sammy pulling out that bullet. Am I sick that I found that Sammy kind of hot? Hmm..probably don't need to know the answer to that.