The Orb of Thesselae -- was that from Buffy or from Angel?

It was from both, Morgana, but there's also a witch named Thessaly in The Sandman apparently (so now I'm wondering if Joss was shouting out there, too).

I am so not down with extended separation for the boys. I don't mind if it happens--I just don't care to watch it, really. I show up weekly to feed on the brotherly bond, and I can't see it being mined for enough with them apart, since I'm not actually interested in pining, and fierce struggle to be together again isn't a wide range of notes with which to compose.

I love me some Cas and some DeanandCas, but that's not the show, as Julie says, I signed on for.

One episode, tops. Which we might at least get, since Jensen's directing the opener, so it might be Dean lite. But part of me wonders what happened to Cas. If the opener is spare on Dean, is it just the Sam Show? Or is it him and Cas? Ooh...I can see the pitchforks and flaming pentagrams from here...Sera might be grateful she's well clear.

At the most essential--if Dean and Sam can't share screentime and scenes, that most likely means less of both of them.

I don't want less of either of them. Please write the show around that.

Thanks Amy. As soon as I heard the name it pinged me, but I couldn't pin down the source.

Which we might at least get, since Jensen's directing the opener, so it might be Dean lite.

I just read somewhere today, I think, that it's the third episode again, and the only reason I think that might be right is because there are spoilers around for 8.03 but not for .01 or .02.

A narrative like you described, Julie, would be a nightmare to write, and to watch, I think -- it would be like two shows in one. I also don't want them separated for long, especially now, with Dick dead and Sam's head back on mostly straight. I want them to have some time together figuring out a new normal with Bobby gone, too.

A narrative like you described, Julie, would be a nightmare to write, and to watch, I think

My brain had immediately flipped to Farscape and the Two Johns. I don't think Show could do it (I don't think many shows could pull that off) so I don't want Show TO do it. Again, Show is the Sam and Dean show. The idea of Show going outside its own premise for fresh narrative is exciting to me in theory, but then I think that we could also send Sam and Dean to the moon to get a fresh angle. Which is as equally ridiculous. So there's only adding and subtracting and subdividing from the (Sam + Dean) equation.

Man, I am so fucking curious where they'll take season 8.

I did ask around when the news first surfaced that he was directing #1 if they meant he was directing the first one filmed or the first one aired, and folks over at IO9 assured me it was 8E01 in question, but...he's a decent director, but this is a season opener...it seemed a bit much to put on him.

I need to ask Colin how actors are paid for an episode they direct. Do they just get their actor pay and the standard going rate for a director, or is there like a cast and crew happy meal discount?

but there's also a witch named Thessaly in The Sandman apparently

And she's a badass. I love Thessaly, and someday I want to make a blank book that has the same cover as what she's reading in The Kindly Ones arc. ("When Real Things Happen To Imaginary People".)

Mo Ryan posted a thinky piece about her feelings concerning the entirety of season 7; she's not a happy camper.

Another bit of fanon I hate: Castiel's chapped lips. How is that hot?