I think one of my problems with Sam's decision to quit and the seemingly quick timing of it is that, sure, you can list logical points why it makes sense, but unless we're talking about Soulless!Sam, Sam thinking logically at that point in time doesn't track for me. Sam doing illogical, emotional, frantic things like searching with no leads and banging down doors tracks. Even if it's for just a week, before the hopelessness of the situation becomes unavoidably clear, and he realizes that he can spiral into post-Mystery Spot, or try something different, pull himself together, try to do what he asked Dean to do post-Swan Song.

Honestly, one of the things that bothers me most is how the hell anyone (or thing) is killed in purgatory. According the alpha vamp, way back in S6, it's where the souls of dead evil things go. So ... they shouldn't really have bodies, first of all, but also ... they're already dead. So when Dean kills them, what happens then?

They're only mostly dead? Yeah, I don't know either.

GWAR are... GWAR. Jilli should explain them.

Ha! (And yes, I'm still reading this thread, even tho' I only saw three episodes of LAST season.)

GWAR are ... a shock-rock band. With puppets, giant costumes with enormous foam codpieces and/or penises, and a fondness for throwing buckets of stage blood on the audience. They're ridiculous, and they're also HUGE geeks. The members of GWAR completely fandorked out at Pete when I introduced them at a convention long ago.

I think one of my problems with Sam's decision to quit and the seemingly quick timing of it...

Overall, I really liked the episode, but right now, I'd really like a bit more information about the timing of things from Sam's perspective. We know that Kevin stopped contacting him several months back (will need to re-watch to be sure), but I'm assuming the first call didn't come in right away. Kevin first had to guile his way out of Crowley's clutches. Also, I got the idea that before hitting the dog, Sam was still on the road. What we don't know is how long that was. If it was a few months, and there was no sign of Leviathan during that time, his decision to stop and give up hunting makes a lot more sense to me. I hope we see more of Sam's year as we get more about what happened to Dean in Purgatory.

When they led with the "family business" quote in "the road so far" I choked up...if that's not true, why should it make me emotional?

I think for Sam, hunting is very much is a family business, and without family, there's no business. Between S3 and S4, he had the hope of getting Dean back (and Ruby's interference). In this case, there was no sign he would get Dean back, and his entire chosen family has been wiped out. I also think Sam has good reason (and some chilling precedents) to fear what he'd become on his own.

Also, I'd like to hear more about the "there was a girl" factor. From the look of things, Sam snuck out on his bunkmates (human and canine) in the middle of the night as soon as he got word that Dean was alive. I very much got the feeling that not going back is very much an option he's keeping open.

For me, I think that if Sam had valid reasons, and a valid timeline that showed he did his due diligence before he threw in the towel . . . wouldn't he have led with that when explaining himself to Dean?

For me, I think that if Sam had valid reasons, and a valid timeline that showed he did his due diligence before he threw in the towel . . . wouldn't he have led with that when explaining himself to Dean?

I'm hoping for some clarification later, but yes, that would have been good to have up front. For now, I'm going to blame that on the sort of careless scripting that gave us the vet foisting the dog off on Sam in truly unbelievable fashion.

From the look of things, Sam snuck out on his bunkmates (human and canine) in the middle of the night as soon as he got word that Dean was alive.

I thought he was leaving for other reasons, and was completely surprised to see Dean there. I did not think he was aware that Dean would be in the cabin. His surprise about Dean being alive is so palpable after Dean stops tossing stuff at him.

Also, if he knew Dean would be there, if he had, for instance, talked to Dean himself, some of the conversation we saw would have taken place on the phone.

I thought he was leaving for other reasons, and was completely surprised to see Dean there. I did not think he was aware that Dean would be in the cabin.

So the question is, why was he sneaking out to go to the cabin? What was he expecting to find?

I didn't get the impression he was expecting to find anything. My impression was that he was either leaving because the situation was untenable (and the cabin is the only "home" he has left) or he was going off for a weekend on his own, although the look on his face and the sad music says otherwise.

If Sam knew Dean was there and they had some kind of contact before that meeting, it was really poor writing. The reunion is the scene you show, whether it's on the phone or not.