I think Dean didn't want the soul out of Sam one more second. But why wouldn't Cas suggest it? Dean's all "fix it now. Fix fixing it later."

Castiel's focus on the wellbeing of what was left of Sam rather than his absent soul really bugged me. I could maybe see that attitude from one of their human allies who'd be concentrating on the apparently complete person in front of them, but you'd think the Angel would regard the immortal soul as the essential part of a person. He certainly seemed to in "Dark Side of the Moon."

So much YES, Matt.

He was the one painting the bleakest picture of what was happening, and all he wanted to do was keep Sam as is.

If souls are all that and godly and worth having a season arc over, he needs to get with the program.

Instead, he's viewing Robo!Sam as a viable entity that can be let roam society--he's all concerned with the good of the resultant combination, whereas Dean is concerned that the combination be good.

oh what must it be like out there away from buffistas? I just asked D if he thought Cas was being honest with Sam & Dean and he said, "I forget what's going on."

Mmmph. People with incomplete memory of canon! What are we going to do with them?

Of course, I can only remember half an episode back in Vampire Diaries. Too many things happen, yo.

Shoot, I still have this image of Sam as happy and cute and innocent, when from the pilot, he was angry and vengeful from the pilot onward. I still don't know where that came from (just how JP looks?) but it's ocassionaly a shock when I go back and get a faceful of "dude is fucked up".

Yeah, he got on board with Dean's quest, and an understanding of what it was like for Dean to lose their mom, but Dean's had a lifetime to adjust (in a fucked up way). Is it fic that screwed me up over this? Or, does Sam superficially come of as still innocent and sweet and naive in canon if you forget the shows origins?

Sam is good with someone dying in the place of Dean in Faith. He storms out of the car to find John in Scarecrow. He rages at John until right before John dies.

He's impassioned and emotional but definitely also angry and willing to be dark.

I was thinking about the change in Sam. I think you get a sense of Sam's naivete through his early reactions to Dean's hustles and lies. He's slightly disapproving. Then his reaction to what he has to do in Heart--gah. Poor Sammy is devastated. Today's Sam, even before he jumped in the hole, wouldn't bat an eye at Dean's lies in the line of duty. I don't think he would have had the heartbreak from killing his new girlfriend if he had met her last season. He wouldn't have been gleeful, but he would have pulled the trigger faster than the Sam of Heart.

I think it brought it into focus for me with the wishing well episode. Dean still saw Sam as the cute, innocent boy and encouraged him to wish back to Jessica. But by then Sam had changed and said, that wasn't him anymore. Oh Sam.

So the short answer is yes, I think Sam was happy, cute, and innocent (as a Winchester can be) and I think that changed and he wasn't happy, cute or innocent even before he was in the cage.

Or, does Sam superficially come of as still innocent and sweet and naive in canon if you forget the shows origins?

I never got that Sam was sweet and innocent. Well, sweet, sure, with Jessica in the pilot, but most of S1 is angry, resentful, grieving Sam. He's compassionate with victims, and more willing to play the game politely than Dean usually is (also pilot: kicking Dean when he mouths off to the cops), but it was pretty clear to me from the outset he had lost his innocence a long time ago.

I think you see a certain naivete later on from time to time, even as late as last season, when he's asking if Bobby will be all right at Karen's second funeral pyre. There is a little kid still in there, one who seems to show up when Dean and/or Bobby is present and he's looking for a sort of reassurance that's easy to ask for, when someone is around who will give it (and Dean was that guy, for a long time).