I'm of the school that thinks it wasn't really Sam this whole time, that the replicant T1000 is lesser and not equal to a human being. I liked him, I liked his dry sense of humour and his heartless devotion to Dean and killing evil things. But I miss *Sam* and I hope he doesn't come back too broken.

This is where I don't know what I think. Maybe Buffy spoiled me -- there, the demon retained the human's personality and lost only the moral compass and sense of guilt. Here, I don't know what the dividing line is.

Robo!Sam certainly had none of his old sensitivity or compassion, and he seemed to know right from wrong but just didn't care when it suited him (a la Angel and Spike et al). He actually seems to be missing more of himself than Spike or Angel did, but at least they didn't make him straight up evil.

I'm still unclear on what exaclty it means to be walking around without a soul but I hope that is purposeful.

There hasn't been an implication that, say, Ash and other people aren't safe.

yes, but Sam is Satan's Special Snowflake... or now that that big battle is over, is Sam not so important anymore?

I've seen a lot of fics that posit a divide between angel Heaven and dead people heaven...

That would make sense. I'm familiar with Dante's Hell being many layered, it would work for Heaven too.

or now that that big battle is over, is Sam not so important anymore?

I guess that he could be held hostage to be returned to Sam on his release.

The divide doesn't make any sense since we've seen multiple angels interact with souls in their heaven. The angels might have their own section, but there's nothing to imply it's a big deal going from one to the other--the boys found Joshua, Zach and his henchmen found Dean and Sam.

Spike and Angel could enjoy things more than Sam can. He seems to go for physical pleasures. Spike, especially, could love and displayed selected empathy. He was just a manically bad man.

Tessa told Dean that if the little girl didn't die, she'd be surrounded by chaos and sadness because she was living outside her time.

Do you suppose that's what wrong with everything? That one deal that Mary made, that had John living past his time, enshrouded them in disturbance? And that each successive resurrection (whoah nellie, what a family) just amplifies it?

I also noted that when Samuel was explaining his point, he said he wanted Mary "back from the dead" because he didn't know how to live without her. Which sounded creepy and all about him and not like he thought he was doing her a favour.

Spike, especially, could love and displayed selected empathy. He was just a manically bad man.

Exactly. The writers here just seem to have dialed Sam's depth of emotion back to 1.

he said he wanted Mary "back from the dead" because he didn't know how to live without her. Which sounded creepy and all about him and not like he thought he was doing her a favour.

This still bothers me. It might twig me less if he had mentioned his wife at all, but he doesn't, and that strikes me as super weird and dysfunctional.

I think because they set him up as antagonist, they couldn't focus his wish on giving her back to her sons, but I have a hard time imagining any parent who wouldn't do that for a child, when her own children are STANDING RIGHT THERE. Not about you anymore, old man.

Well he did suggest that Dean would want her back too, but that was shortly before he handed them over to their putative deaths--Sam an enigma, and Dean a stranger.

STILL HER OFFSPRING, GENIUS. She's going to be pissed.

Spike, especially, could love

Technically Spike was an anomaly.

Yeah, I never did get why putting Sam's soul in Heaven was never stated as an option.

And there could still be Robo!Sam wandering the earth, and maybe his soul could come back when it had finished with it's heavenly therapy. I mean, Cas is sheriff, it's not like Heaven's gates would be closed to it. Or, if it's not angels, hmmm, it's the reapers who gather the souls and send them on their way? And they don't know what happens to souls? Who's the final deliverer of souls? Death? Another angel?

Well, we have a group of two. And one of them was obsessed with Buffy, and the other one was in love with Dru.

Sam seems to have a very strong responsibility towards Dean, and will gnaw at his arm to carry out his mission--but that's what it is. Dean is mission #1. He's not feeling there, except perhaps satisfaction at a mission well accomplished.

Angel had a fascination with Drusilla, Darla, and especially Buffy. Losing his soul did nothing to his ability to feel, he just stopped feeling the fluffy stuff.