I'm sitting back and letting the season play out a bit before I solidify an opinion. As a devotee of nitpicky detail and composition, editing, etc., did anyone notice that when Ben turned around to see Sam standing in his house the camera on Sam shot up from Ben's eye level? Giant! Giant Winchester in my house! Giant supposedly dead Winchester in my house.

I thought it was interesting that Mo wondered if Sam's behaviour and attitude was because of hell, or because of the Campbells.

Nice catch Beverly. I just rewatched and you're so right.

Juliebird do you have a link to Mo's review? Interesting.

ehab, you skimmer!

Amy linked it upthread: [link]

I don't think we were supposed to see the hard liquor after the beer at the bar as a habit.

Didn't he drink hard liquor closing up the house before the jaunt out with Sid too? I thought it was a normal thing. And his description of the time with Lisa didn't make it seem like he was all ironed out.

I read the late evening drink as a way to counterbalance the nightmares. Not the healthiest way to deal but it is Dean.

Didn't he drink hard liquor closing up the house before the jaunt out with Sid too?

I don't know. I don't remember that, but I wasn't looking for it during the montage.

We saw Dean drinking in the montage as he closed up the house, and then again as he closed up the house all suspicous after his search through the under-renovation hotel.

I don't begrudge Dean drinking beer at the cookout, because that's what you do, but twice they showed us the same nightly ritual that included a tumbler of hard liquor. And maybe I'm a lush, but evidence of one drink every night isn't awesome, but not horrid alcoholism. For sure he drank too much in the beginning, per his own words, but I get the feeling he got it under control at some point.

::sips her wine::

I think when you've been told a character needs alcohol to function and you see him with alcohol that many times in that few scenes, including ritual, it's safe to suspect he may still be a functioning alcoholic, even if he's not drunk.

If Show wanted to indicate he'd cut down on drinking they did a piss poor job of it. Short of mimosas with breakfast, he pretty much availed himself at every basically socially allowable opportunity.

True, they could have shown him in the second nightly ritual without a drink, and that would have set a completely different tone. Then again, I've always kinda wondered if he wasn't a functioning alcoholic since season 4.