Yeah, and just to be clear, I'm not overly exercised about it. It doesn't make sense to me, but I'm not tearing my hair out. For me it's just noted, and moving on, with a minor curiosity to see whether it's something they plan to revisit.

I'm a very sheltered SPN fan in that I don't venture out beyond here and my FB feed, which is great by me.

It works for me in the same way the memory wipe was totally not a solution to Lisa's problem--Dean's mistake, more than the writers'.

I think the writers have dropped the ball with meatsuits in general, but this particular scenario strikes me as on Dean.

Also in terms of Dean'character arc, it is totally possible t mild irony that the writers might take Dean places we would not in their place. t /mild irony

He's theirs to do with as they will. It's not a matter of my agreeing with a character arc or not; I don't get a vote. Some things will make sense to me, some won't; some things I'll like, some I may not. It's all part of the ride. My part comes down to watching it, making what I make of it, and talking about it.

Of course, if someone chooses to have a "What would I do if I were a writer?" discussion, have a ball!! I don't have the imagination to write fiction.

Dean's mistake, more than the writers'.

I can see it that way, absolutely. But I would like it to mean something later on, i.e. there should be consequences from that decision.

It works for me in the same way the memory wipe was totally not a solution to Lisa's problem--Dean's mistake, more than the writers'.

While I can read that as Dean making a bad decision for what he thinks is a good enough reason, I can't with the kid.

How does this make him anything other than the Big Bad in some monster's life who hasn't killed yet but surely will in the future if it is so survive?

I mean, clearly, I don't love this direction. You are, at best, ensuring innocent people die and, at worst, making yourself an enemy who only knows you killed his mom and he wants to avenge it.

If Dean had said "I will come for you, should you try and kill someone" would it have made a difference for you?

If I try and put myself in Dean's shoes, I'm not ensuring innocent people will die any more than would have otherwise happened--he wasn't killing Amy to punish her, but to keep people safe from her. And Dean has this early-imprinted soft spot with kids that he'd have to know they were killing (as opposed to know they were going to kill) in order to off them.

Looking back--how many monsters has Dean offed that had a zero body count?

something is rotten in the state of Deanmark

Ha! Love it.

I've been thinking a bit more, and I found myself coming back to the idea that if the kid had not been in the equation, if Amy had been killing because she had been getting sick, the ending might have seemed a lot cleaner, morally speaking.

Given the stress the boys are under, and how helpless Dean feels in the fallout of what happened with Castiel and after having been laid up for weeks and having Sam to deal with, I could see him not thinking things through past the point of clean up whatever mess I can clean up now. He didn't plan for having to deal with Amy's son, and I think Joshua showing up when he did probably messed with Dean's head a lot, on quite a number of fronts. And Dean's head doesn't need any more messing with right now.

Bobby's attitude towards Dean in the episode seems fitting if he's been dealing with three weeks of Dean slowly (or not so slowly) unraveling. Since this season's first episode, there's been a lot of Dean pretending he's holding it together and Bobby trying to call him on it. Also, I can only imagine how Bobby would have reacted after he got that Thelma and Louise message from Dean in the wake of the fire.

Right now, Sam, even with his persistently shaky grasp on reality, seems more sane and grounded to me than Dean does. He's not the brother who's the ticking time bomb, IMO.

Anyhow, I'll just have to wait and see how it all plays out, but so far I'm really enjoying what they're doing this season.

This thread is so weird right now. Too many Amys! It's confusing.

so far I'm really enjoying what they're doing this season

God, me too. I mean, I always do in the moment. It's only when some time passes that I can look back and say, yeah, S3, not their best work. But even when it's not their best (let's say ... All Dogs Go to Heaven, or the ghost ship) there are always ALWAYS worthwhile moments.

To wit, Dean in a thigh holster and on a rooftop as a sniper, and Dean in a tux.