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!"

Well, I'm not sure what fighting back would count for for the other abductees. But when you got a guy who comes up waving and discharging weapons--he'd have to service me real good, or it wouldn't be worth the bother.

From what Dean said he also used a knife. Maybe all their knives have either iron, silver or both? If they weren't prepared for someone to fight back, maybe just that Dean was creating ouchies with bullets, plus had a tiny chance of inflicting real death was enough reason to send him back for the moment. After, his having been in the realm of the Fae mean't he was "marked", "theirs". So they could let him go, take someone else, then grab him later after making special arrangements.

Incidentally, there is no reason to think reversing the summoning spell took away Dean's ability to see fairies. Nor is there reason to believe that he is no longer marked, or no longer "belongs" to the Fae in whatever sense he did before they were dismissed. I wonder if we will see consequences of this in future episodes.

[X-post with ita and Morgana]

not just neglecting to offer Sam a brotherly beer, but deciding not to.

Coulda sworn Dean offered Sam a beer, and Sam waved it off.

I missed that whole thing. I could see Dean changing his mind about giving this guy who isn't his brother a beer.

Coulda sworn Dean offered Sam a beer, and Sam waved it off.

I just checked the DVR. Dean pulled out two beers, wordlessly offered one to Sam who waved it off, and Dean dropped it back into the cooler. I didn't notice any other signs of blocking the cooler away by stepping on it or otherwise. But Dean definitely extended the beer to Sam.

I just realized that "a dropout" is not in fact an lj username. They had seemed to be the recipient of a lot of fic, and wondered why they were so popular.

It wasn't until this round of Secret Angels that I realised aesc's AU masterpiece wasn't Below Skyscrapers For A Dropout. Oops.