This is too soon off of Sam in his own split-personality hell saying that he wouldn't leave Dean "because he's my brother" for me to easily write off Sam saying "eh, I'm done. I've learned from our collective resurrection mistakes and decided to forgo the whole mess and just move on without him, he's probably in a better place for all I know".

I have a horrible feeling that this misstep will haunt us forever.

Until I see evidence that Sam did some due diligence, I will maintain that the writers don't know who the frell they are writing anymore.

I will maintain that the writers don't know who the frell they are writing anymore.

I would never say that, since they're by definition writing Sam and Dean. They're just not writing ones that we can trace the path from here to there on, and maybe not ones we like. But "who" is what flows from their pens.

However, ficwriters, sometimes they don't know. Dean who falls for Cas because he makes amazing pumpkin spice lattes? Yeah--if the writers suddenly make Dean like frouffy drinks and calling himself Francis, then that's the shift Dean makes. But if you're not the writers, you're OOC.

(Just an aside... why have people been praying to angels on Supernatural? I don't remember ever being taught to pray to angels.

Well, Dean calls Cas and past experience tells him that Cas responds.

Maybe it's a semantic issue? I just looked through most of the first page of dictionaries that come up on google, and "prayer" refers to a 'petition directed to God or an object of worship,' which isn't quite the role Castiel has been fulfilling, although that's the way they've been using the term on Show.

Who are the people that are praying to angels that bother you, Morgana?

However, as far as real life goes, just google pray to angels, and you'll get information like this:

Q:I'm not sure I understand praying to angels for support. Unlike saints, who are part of the Body of Christ, angels have a different nature. Can you help me with the teachings on this and where they originated?

A: The angels are spiritual beings who have a free will and an intellect that is far superior to ours. The evil ones dwell in hell; the holy ones dwell in heaven and are therefore considered to be saints. Whoever is in heaven is a saint. God uses angels as messengers, guardians, and all-around helpers to us—as well as to reflect his glory. In Tobit 12:12, the Archangel Raphael said to Tobias, "So now when you and Sarah prayed, it was I who brought and read the record of your prayer before the glory of the Lord, and likewise whenever you would bury the dead." In Tobit 12:14-16, we read, "And at the same time God sent me to heal you and Sarah your daughter-in-law. I am Raphael, one of the seven angels who stand ready and enter before the glory of the Lord. The two of them were shaken; they fell face down, for they were afraid." For more, see the Catholic Encyclopedia entry on angels at www.newadvent.org.

So it's not semantics at all. You seem to have been raised in a sect of Christianity that doesn't, but that still leaves room for plenty of variety.

This episode did nothing to allay my irritation at how they've written Sam, and I'm guessing we get full vaseline-cam flashbacks to Sam's idyll next week (ugh, but maybe some explanation of the throughline--I don't mind him being happy, but if he's truly truly miserable hunting, if it's absolutely not a choice he'd make on his own, how is this Team Free Will? How can I keep enjoying watching him and be a Samgirl?)

However, Kevin was cool, his mother was funny and cool, and as a Destiel shipper the only thing more I could have asked for would be bodily fluid--there's enough foundation there to build on for chapters and chapters--tomes, even.

I wonder--do you figure demons can't get rid of the tattoos? Otherwise they're not much use. But if they have to convince a third party to remove them...not that many people like demons...it may be a reasonable deterrent. Certainly better than nothing.

Sneak peek

You seem to have been raised in a sect of Christianity that doesn't

I was raised in a sect that included Tobit as a book of apocrypha, but let's not get into an extended theological discussion here, as that's not what I intended.

What I was aiming towards in a clumsy way was that I thought neither of the guys even belived in angels (although we know that Sam said he had been praying his whole life) until Dean was rescued by Castiel. After that point the only "good" angel they knew was Castiel, every other angel they met was a massively arrogant "dick with wings," as Dean said. And once Show got past the first few delicious episodes where Castiel was presented as a mysterious Other with rockstar presence and mystical powers, he turned into an ally/friend (although an unpredictable one). The character that Castiel became doesn't seem like the 'object of worship' who'd be receiving prayers.

As I said, I'm just quibbling over the use of the word "prayer" which is something that caught my attention in a show that has a hazy relationship with religion at best.

do you figure demons can't get rid of the tattoos? Otherwise they're not much use. But if they have to convince a third party to remove them

Once they inhabit someone they then have all that person's memories, right? So now Crowley knows where to find the Winchesters' tats, if he didn't before.

I don't know if the tats were supposed to be hidden--otherwise, try the sole of a foot or the inside of your upper arm or a buttcheek or something. Makes the reveal...different, but I didn't think that was an issue.

I guess I don't get the prayer thing. People pray to angels, that's established in the real world as a thing, and Dean and Sam characterise their onesided "please give me help, angel Castiel" thoughts as prayers, and so would a lot of people. It's not an act of faith in the divine, but it fits some of the criteria. I don't understand why it's an issue.

And, lord, the casual use of it in that particular exchange, where Dean who has no faith and can barely ask for help and has no friends--for him to say that? Pow,, ,right in my feels.

One of the signals to back button out of a fic is the attribution of Castiel as Dean's angel. So the bit where Benny called Cas Dean's angel I had to la la and stress to myself that it's just shorthand for "the one you were referring to" and not the shippy thing. Because, ick.

I suppose the phrase is useful in navigating fics where Gabriel is parceled out to Sam in some sort of even stevens dynamic...