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.

it was really poor writing.

Given some other things that bugged me, I'm going with this until proven otherwise. I thought the general narrative arc and character arcs were very satisfying, but the details of the execution were lacking.

See, I got the impression that Sam was meeting Dean from a prearranged something, what with his whole "dude, no need for tests, I know it's you", and then his freak out about how he's amazed that Dean is alive was more of a "I knew it in theory, but now you're here in the flesh and blood reality, how crazy and wonderful is this?!".

I definitely had the impression that it was a prearranged meet. Now I'll have to go back and see whey. Poor me.

I'm hoping for some clarification later, but yes, that would have been good to have up front.

Exactly. I'm probably being too meta about this, but..."There must be a good reason--I know Sam, and he's perfectly capable of making good decisions when his brother shuffles off this mortal coil" is really not cutting it for me.

If they were aiming for the tension of an inevitable reveal, they missed my mark, that's for sure. If both brothers wander too far off the path, and there's no one left to be on the path--I'm futless. I don't think those are good audience feels. If it was a 2 hour premiere, mayhap. But it was never going to be--it's not even an "continued next week..."

I'm thinking of a Tabula Rasa-esque episode, where I'm left thinking "I don't know these people. Can someone call me when my people show up? Or someone goes shirtless?"

As for how they both ended up ag the cabin at the same time--good god. If it's a case of the "No Significant Conversations Off Camera" rule, meaning that revelatory communication doesn't happen if there's no room for a Steadicam--I will barf.

Any clue that Dean could lay to get Sam out there either tips Sam off that it's Dean, or gets ignored because Sam's out of the family business.

And, the Family Business I watch for means "If you're in the family, it's your business." That's the Winchester/Campbell/Singer shit I like.

Basically, Sam should have taken his Sasquatch ass over to Sheriff Mills, screwed her brains out--and then they fight crime.

And now I'm trying to work out what Ameilia knows that Sam can waltz out in the middle of the night and be gone without apparently a call or a text for however long this is going to be. So far, Benny+Dean seems a more viable ship, and just typing that makes me throw up a little in my mouth.

Basically, Sam should have taken his Sasquatch ass over to Sheriff Mills, screwed her brains out--and then they fight crime.

I was just thinking that they should have gone that way.

I am not that unhappy with the present state of the Winchesters, actually, but Sheriff Mills would have made so much sense.

Speaking of Benny, that final phone call bugged me. It felt so much of "I canna have you, we mustest part, but I want you, so I shall call thee and protest our connection, alas". So, other than shipping the heck out of those two (I feel kinda bad that platonic brothers-in-arms no longer exists in my brain. If there's bro-yay, there's Ho!yay. Yo. And that's why I ship Winters and Dixon) I don't get the motivation behind the call. I'm sure that eventually we'll see their connection, but that was an exceedingly needy call IMHO for even foe!yay!.