It's not that there weren't choices, it's just that from the moment Azazel caught Mary's scent, the choices have been bad and less bad. I think the jury's still out on how much of that is in the hands of fate.

The issue I have with the predestination angle is that if we go with the assumption that they really don't have a lot of impact on how their lives go, and that everything is going to happen regardless of their efforts, then Sam's use of his deeemonic powers is foretold and expected. He's supposed to use them, and all of Castiel's and Uriel's browbeating is kind of pointless. (Not to reach too far here, but it reminds me of the discussions around the so-called "Judas Gospel" -- that Judas isn't the irredeemable traitor he's always been portrayed, because he served a needed function. He HAD to turn Christ over to his enemies, so that the crucifixion could take place. If he hadn't, then Christ's purpose - dying so that mankind could be saved - would not have taken place.)

This whole discussion made me go watch God Says Nothing Back again.

Damn. That remains the best Sam-centric vid to this day, and wow, S4 Sam is *really* there in S1 Sam.

Wasn't there bickering/bitterness in S1 because Dean was a better soldier than Sam was? Most of that was family dynamics, of course, but I was left with the impression that Dean was also better at hunting skills than Sam was.

I think Sam just never put his heart and his interest into it, because he saw himself never needing it, he was getting out. He was never the hunter he could be, which was probably a match, or even better in some facets of the job, than Dean is. Was. Whichever.

GSNB has been running in my backbrain all day. Maybe that's why.

Dean was a better soldier than Sam

It's been too long since I've rewatched season 1, but I thought that was a sarcastic reference by Sam to Dean's unquestioning obedience to whatever John ordered. I don't recall it having any connection to actual abilities.

What Morgana said. Dean's a better foot-soldier; Sam's got more in the way of leadership skills.

OMG, Castiel asking Anna to tell him what to do - fuck, I do love the Dean-Castiel (or Dean/Castiel) dynamic. They're so well matched, bless 'em. They should totally be BFF. Or shag. Or both.

::hugs boys.

And, yes, I do feel very bad for Sammy, I really do. Yes, Dean is the Uberwoobie before which all other woobies bow down, poor bloke, but that doesn't mean one should slag Sammy off. Sammy is having a pretty shitty time of it too, and always has done, and, jings, After School Special killed me, mostly for Sammy - but for both of them (despite the distracting not-prettiness and not-likeableness of Not!Dean). Those poor kids. Damn it, John, you didn't do right by your boys - you may have been a Righteous Man, and a Hero, but that doesn't make for an ideal father. Alas.

::snuggles all Winchesters, including kickass Mary and her parents, and feeds them chicken soup::

Mind you, I do really, really wish that Sam would stop lying!!! And that someone would take him to one side and say: "Pride comes before a fall! And in this case, the fall in question? Would be Lucifer's. And you're going to end up being his meatsuit, if you don't try to put the breaks on NOW!"

Oh my God.... Supernatural enacted as Easter eggs!

That is awesome! Man, she'd told me she was making an Impala out of styrofoam, so I knew it was going to be quite the, uh, eggstravaganza, but I had no notion here would be SO much detail! I think I liked John in heaven best of all.

(Claire is the very person who has enabled my SPN-appreciation by sending me a disk of 4.11-4.16. She is made of win.)

Very cute!