See, I don't think Sam said anything about Dean keeping him human. He said hunting is better with Dean. That Dean ran to help Sid and (Nancy)--which, yeah, is a human response, but basically results in a better save count than waiting and weighing odds--without a blink, without thinking it through. He didn't say Dean was helping keep him human, he said working with Dean makes him a better hunter. IJS.

Sam says it's better with Dean around, because Dean cares and he doesn't, to loosely paraphrase him.

There's no clear implication about save count.

I got from that exchange that Sam believes he is the better hunter - since he didn't waste time and energy by running next door when it was pretty clear that he'd be too late - but that Dean is the better human - because Dean did. The show has always highlighted the fact that sometimes a choice has to be made between hunting things and saving people and that situation illustrated each one's priority. I don't think the current Sam sees saving people as anything other than a possible result of a good hunt.

there are rather a lot of fish!Dean stories coming out of the woodwork lately. what's up with that?

A thought occurred to me. If the boys tracked down what they thought was a non-human monster who when caught turned out to be a human serial killer, I suspect they would kill him anyway. After all, what they do is kill evil son-of-a-bitches. While what they track down is supernatural, if they were face-to-face with a purely human monster don't think they would turn him or her back into the wild. (Or bother to turn him into the police.)I still have a lot of unwatched episodes. Did this ever happen? (Not counting fic. I just assume ficcers have this covered.)

his head looks pasted on.

Not yaye?

Two things didn't seem right for me in the ep. When Dean found the vamps, they weren't surprised he came to them, but it hadn't seemed like they had done anything to reach out to him again. (I understand that Sam finally getting involved probably interrupted the usual routine, but it still seemed weird).

And then the whole "new female vamps in cages" thing that couldn't be trusted or loyal or something? And yet Dean is brand-spanking-new and he's left to wander free and told all the inside information. Shouldn't he have been thrown in the cages as well? they should have come up with a different reason for the cages, because it smacks of a badly concealed fetish to have women in them.

I handwaved that if there is a nest and you are trying to bring new vamps in, you aren't surprised when they show up? My hands were waving really fast, yes.

I am not even getting into the girls in cages. I sort of thought they were still human and they were trying to torture them / brain wash them / compel them. If the caged women were actually vamped? I ... just don't even.

This show tries me. I want to love it, but it's trying me. I am settling for liking it and seeing what happens. It's easier if I have lower expectations.

That said, damn, some pretty shots in this ep, some great Dean, some freaking creepy Sam and the occasionally awesomely self-aware dialog.

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So, ignipes wrote a story and it's not terribly flattering to SPN and it's a VampD crossover and I kinda love it a lot.

because it smacks of a badly concealed fetish to have women in them

I haven't rewatched yet. Were all the women young 17-year-olds? Because that's just another layer of ick.

I saw there was the one girl who was turned early. She seemed very unhappy to be a vamp as she walked past Dean. I wonder if those were the teens who were vamp fans and knew enough to realize they'd been fooled and had to be "tamed".

My sense about monsters is they are breeding or creating more monsters because demons have retreated and are engaged in power struggles in hell since the Apocalypse ended. Monsters are all now jockeying to fill that vacuum topside.

I must agree with ita on Sam hotness. Creepy, yes. Drool-worthy? OMFG ::fans self::