Which makes me wonder, what is a feasible timeline for Dean to have started taking over care of Sammy? I don't know kids, so this is like venturing into the rules of D&D for me. I know for some of you info like this is a given and taken for granted, but I have not a clue what is realistic.

Yeah, the point at which 5 year old Dean is a deft diaper-changer is the point at which I'm mad at John for fucking over his kids way too much. I can imagine a five year old Dean being an expert Sam-soother, but he was a few years away from babysitting and feeding, etc. I'm sure Sam was potty trained before Dean had sole responsibility for him for any length of time.

Actually, a five-year-old could give a baby a bottle, but that's just sitting still, and Sam would have been burping on his own by then. Otherwise, what ita said. In the shtriga episode (which I can never remember the name of), Sam is fourish, making Dean eight-almost-nine, and that fits.

I would never leave a preschooler with an eight-year-old, even a mature one, and certainly not with a loaded rifle in the house, but they did a good job of showing that Dean to be world-weary enough and indoctrinated well enough to do it ... almost. A kid that age who isn't afraid of being on his own is definitely going to get bored and itchy, so it's sort of a double-edged sword.

Sorry--feeding in my head involved preparing the meal. I've seen 18 month old babies bottle-feed other babies.

Here and I was thinking that my problems with this ep were that it was the first one I've seen with ads and on the crappy CW app. I still think that's some of it for me. I don't like where the ep left me, but I still have faith at this point that the writers will make it ok over the season, and hopefully give more clues soon.

SNEAK PEEK!!!

Oh, DEAN. That's so reassuringly Dean-like of you.

He's gotta protect the family jewels even if he doesn't plan on procreating anytime soon! (otherwise I was a little sad that that's all there was. So spoiled, I is).

I thought I'd finally found an okay DC fic, except Cas is written as a petulant 16 year old, the world building had the potential to be awesome but turned out to be so vague that I really don't know the lay of the land wrt to angels, demons, and humans, and how the WWII motif fits in, and then there's an offhand line about how John fucked off because he wasn't a family man. And that Cas is acting like he is because he was raised by Bobby and not the fucktard angels. Bwuh? First the John diss, and then the explanation of why the writer is writing Cas like this is because of Bobby? Bobby raised a whiny petulant kid?

And then there was the line steal from Star Wars. Like I wouldn't notice.

One of the teams on The Voice is just finishing up "Carry On My Wayward Son" as I type this. Aw.

Hi, all! Been busy this summer, but it's good to read all the thoughtful threads and comments. I thought I'd weigh in too. :-)

Going back to the earlier thread, I wonder how much of Sam's experience in hell with Lucifer is playing into his decision to not search for Dean. Sure, Castiel "shifted" Sam's trauma from hell, but Sam still has vestiges of it as was explained in Party On, Garth.

Without knowing if Dean was alive or dead, I can't help but think Sam was overwhelmed at the thought of looking for him. If Dean was dead and in heaven, why would Sam want to bring him back? His brother would be a peace. Sam could only hope that was Dean's fate. If Dean was in hell, Sam had spent eons there and maybe he'd be too raw to even consider the idea of going back there to rescue Dean. And Purgatory... How could Sam have known it was an option for a non-monster?

I also got the impression that Sam's leaving in the middle of the night might not be the first time he's done that in that relationship. I'm guessing Sam made frequent trips to Montana just to stay connected to the last known refuge he and his brother shared.

I think we'll learn a lot in the coming weeks, and I, for one, am amped and ready for it. I loved the premier. Lots of raw meat. Can't wait for Wednesday!