I really loved the episode.

And did you notice that DeKalb is in the center of influence of the Alpha!VAmp?? Also that the Alpha Vamp is Simon?

And that the boys were in Kankakee County?

Also, the Alpha!Vamp compelled my friend Sandy and I was rewatch multiple times and to watch Dead Man's Blood and Fresh Blood and we were SHOCKED at the contrast between earlier Sam and today Sam. And by the brokenness of the brotherly relationship and are all ready for all sorts of truthiness to happen next Friday.

Hey, the two female Vamps in Dead Man's Blood were allowed to escape - wouldn't it be cool if they came back?

The did a good job of doing Twilight but it is so true that the real thing is liek a lampoon already.

Hmm maybe Sam did not really remember the cure for vampirism, but just assumed that Dean could go veggie like Amber Benson in "Dead Man's Blood". (OK so his expression said he was lying. But it still could have been the backup plan. "Hey, probably we can cure him, and if not he can just eat animal blood.")

I'm just glad to see Rick Worthy on my teevee.

I thought that Sam watching Dean get vamped both showed the new, by all means necessary attitude Sam seems to have and displayed faith that Dean would be strong enough to not eat before he got the cure. (And I think that maybe he was trying to tell Dean about the cure before Dean ran off to say good-bye to Lisa.)

So you don't think that was surprise on Sam's face when Sampa announced the cure? Or he was faking it for the room?

Or he was faking it for the room?

I think this. I think Sam thought Dean would be useful as a vamp in the hunt and knew all along there was a cure. It was a risk this Sam was willing to take.

Huh. I took it for granted that the surprise was faked. If it was NOT faked, then that tells us that Sam may not have come back wrong. He may have been Not!Wrong Sam until sometime after Sampa discussed the cure. Which means that Not!Wrong Sam decided not to tell Dean Sam was back. I really want that to be part of came-back-wrong.

I hate the idea that Sam lost all growth from last season. I really would like all of this to have something to do with coming back wrong, and Untampered-With-Sam still be the person who was able outwrestle Lucifer for love of the Impala (and Dean).

I know there had been discussion of Sam and paying the prostitute and all that, but I have a different thought in my head.

What is the point of that scene? Showing Sam all buff? Showing that Sam has no problem with sex - paid or unpaid? That he is completely over Jess?

Seemed a long bit to throw in there just to show that Sam and Dean are apart and that Sam is self sufficient. We have gotten that before. Am I forgetting something we learned from that part of the episode?

Did not like the Fight Club fusion. I think because I know the movie so well that I just saw and heard Edward Norton and Brad Pitt, and I'd really just rather watch the movie. I also started to read a French Kiss fusion, and no matter how hard I tried, I was imagining Meg Ryan and Kevin Kline. They both felt like too much "take script, switch names" and called it a fic. At least the fight club one had at least two points of straying from the script.

The Due South fusion I found was a weird disjointed incohesive mess of just more "changing the names", and that one had at least the potential for the canon personalities to somewhat map while staying true and also evoking the due Southiness.

and I'm still stumped on that thing. My next guess is Polar Night. Haven't had a chance to go back and see if I can find a similar scene.

Am I forgetting something we learned from that part of the episode?

Sam used to be the caring one, the one who didn't really do even one-night stands. He was more interested in relationships, a genuine connection, than something like Dean's casual hookups, much less paying a prostitute.

I think the point was simply to show us how much Sam has changed, hardened, and it worked really well with his speech to Dean about not caring enough to go save Sid, etc. At least not anymore (although past!Sam would have, and did, do things like that).