You know, the ep did have a strange "my masculinity is threatened by girly fairies" vibe.

There was only one girly fairy, though. And that's the only one that got beaten in hand to hand.

Or I should have rather said "threatened by the existence of fairies, they're for girls".

It wasn't anything explicitly stated, except the overall tone of awkwardness and the too wide-scared eyes and goofy music, more of a meta directorial awkwardness. There's going for funny, but I was also a little disappointed that there wasn't a more dark, sober gossamer thread of "I have newfound respect for all things faerie, don't fuck with them". Instead of the tittering. I'll have to rewatch to better illustrate (or maybe discover that I am crazy --off the top of my head: "I'd rather deal with anal-probing aliens than faeries" paraphrased).

Really? I got the other impression--once Tinkerbell was dealt with, the fairies were more sober, traditional, and straight up threatening. Also, winning, and responded to as such.

The other scene that comes to mind is when Dean is being stalked by the Red Cap, and he's all bug-eyed twitchy nervous slapstick Yellow Fever about it.

So the DA got slipped a handwavium capsule

I kinda feel that Dean being returned was part handwavium too, because I can't believe that none of the other abductees would have fought back. Unless the fae didn't want Dean because he wasn't from that particular town, and the sacrifice ("the fat of the land") had to come from that particular area?

I don't know if any of the other abductees were shooting people. I guess it would have been too much to ask for them to be iron rounds.

I think Dean's just off his game altogether. Out of it for a year, adapting against his upbringing to Mr. Suburbia, mourning for his brother in arms and partner in crime--after a long period of distrust, estrangement, and uneasy detente, during which few if any of the issues between them had a chance to find resolution--then whipsawed with finding Sam alive, but wrong, losing the woman he'd grown to love, at least in a way, and to depend on, finding his extended but curiously offputting family, including a resurrected Grampa, and finding out he and Sam, Grampa and the cousins were all working for a demon--

Especially since the PSTD from his own stint in hell hasn't ever been fully dealt with. Yeah. I'd say an over the top twitch in response to being trailed by a redcap isn't really all that much of a stretch. And after a lifetime of believing the Disney fairies were just cartoon entertainment for kids and moony-eyed adolescent girls, finding that the fae exist and are powerful might elicit a reaction mixed between the two. I get a large, grown man whose stock in trade is stoicism having a difficult time going mushy over Tink.

But those are just my readings.

Rock salt's cheap. It's what my dad loaded his shot shells with to scare off stray dogs and crows and trespassing kids. Stings, but no lasting harm. The bigger pieces hurt more than table, kosher, or sea salt, but don't penetrate fur or denim.

ETA: Yeah, I went "Green cooler!"too. But Dean pulled two bottles out, dropped the second back in the ice, closed the cooler lid, and put his foot on it, thus not just neglecting to offer Sam a brotherly beer, but deciding not to. And then bodily blocking Sam's access. I don't know if he meant to make Sam ask for a beer, or to make the point that Sam was denied access to the family cooler, or what. But the action and the body language was definite. He may have been talking with Sam, but this was no Winchesterly bonding moment (tm) as we have come to know them.

I don't know if any of the other abductees were shooting people

But didn't The Doctor Leprachaun guy say that bullets weren't fatal to them? More an annoyance than anything else. And given their super-speed and abilities to shift around, and that Dean was in their territory, I'm not sure how much of a threat he'd be. The microwave scene was great but I think it was more of a fluke than anything else.

Maybe it was the surprise of him fighting back, and then there was the knife he was waving about, and they had a panicked moment of "Send it back! Here's the gift receipt!"