I did not know We Need To Talk About Kevin was a thing until I was trying to find some details about the episode. Whoa, could we have more hits not actually related to Show? And now I want to see that (horrifying) film. And, shit--the title that cannot stick in my fucking head, even though the episode itself is lasered in, frame by frame: What Is and What Should Never Be--right, can't google half-assedly to find that title ever. I severely underestimated the number of titles that are references. Like, close enough to 100% by now, that I should just assume.

(Parenthetically, I also often place that episode way earlier in the season than it was--maybe 12 or 15, instead of 20--it's massively more painful right up against All Hell Breaks Loose I & II)

((Double bracketically, I hope Mrs. Tran is okay sooner rather than better--any guesses on when they'll be back? This can't be a Jesse thing))

Ah, fuck the brackets--more things--do you figure they kept Mjolnir? They must have kept Mjolnir. There's a hysterical gifset which compares Sam to Thor and Dean to Loki...I wonder if I can find it...shit, you have no idea how long that took to find: [link] -- yeah I hope they didn't toss it or something stupid and forgetful of the writers...oh, right.

So--Sam quit hunting. Sam wants to quit hunting. Whenever they're done with "this", Sam's out. And Dean's talking over him, as is the due, nay, the RESPONSIBILITY of an older sibling. In episode 1, they had a "this". It was finding Kevin. Episode 2's "this" was getting the tablet to close the doors to hell.

Do you figure they have a "this" right now? Is Sam going to stick around being miserable while Dean leads the charge to get the tablet and Kevin back in the same room (I'm assuming there's some reason Crowley can't destroy it, nor tuck it between two chunks of ice on K1) and close hell off forever.

Or is episode 3, extrapolating from the non-blurry parts of the preview, the bit where Sam says "There's no is now, Dean. I want to go home to the dog and woman I abandoned without notice." (Figure he had a standing 'One day I'll get a call, sweetie, and I'll go, and I can't guarantee when or even if I'll be back. Rover really likes a good tummy rub, and the no-name dog food is fine--it's not like he can read.' clause to the relationship? And Dean says "FUCK YOU I INSTALLED CENTRAL LOCKING ON BABY AND YOU'RE NOT OUT UNTIL I SAY YOU'RE OUT!" Or he might quote from Godfather 3. Either way. And then they either find another "this" or Sam concedes, or takes Dean home to meet the lovely lady (Eiffel tower!) or...or anything?

Does Crowley know specifically what the tablet says, or does he just know it's Word of God and therefore valuable? Or possibly demon related but not necessarily closing the gates of hell?

Eta: I had the immediate expectation when Crowley was holding the tablet that he'd crush it or something right there, but I would not be surprised if those things were indestructible. And that SamThorDeanLoki gif is kind of great.

I did think he wanted it so that he had the keys, but I'm not sure. I could stand to rewatch.

I'm kinda glad that his ex died, and it didn't make him Rambo, it just made him sad and extra protective of his mother and wanting to get away from Dean. I don't feel like she was fridged, more that her death was reacted to, if you see the (admittedly vague) distinction.

I love love that Dean was about to kill Mrs. Tran to get at Crowley. He was a bit pragmatic before, but Purgatory has done to him what Hell didn't--and why is that? Because he was freer, relatively? He made himself into this weapon, instead of someone trying to wield him?

He wouldn't save bullets and risk Sam's life. Sam wouldn't kill his father to kill Azazel. John turned himself over to Azazel to save Dean.

I'm assuming the boys would still make those decisions--right? So it's just that Mrs. Badass Tran isn't valuable to Dean in any way. And Sam plain wouldn't have.

I need to rewatch, because Sam suddenly reciting an incantation backwards intrigues me. Judging by Dean's reaction he had never done that when the two of them were hunting together, so it's something Sam picked up in the past year. Why? When? And why hasn't Dean realized that it means that Sam obviously has been doing something hunter-like during their time apart?

I don't think this is a spoiler--it's a character trait they said they were going to play up this season-- genius Sam. You take the backwards incantation and the quick calculation, and they both point to that, but what;s weird about it is that it's not just a shift of focus, it's something that's surprising Dean. I am curious about how that's going to play out.

And I really hope they don't make any sort of brains and brawn separation, where Sam is the thinker and Dean's the uber-Purgatory-honed lethal weapon. Share the wealth, people.

Regarding the quick calculation -- I've seen people bring it up in other threads that in an early episode (I think it was one with a rugaru, maybe?), the guys meet another hunter who had known them when they were younger and who asks Sam if he's still a mathlete. So at least there's a bit of a (forgotten) background for that bit.

That was the rugaru episode, I think. Good call.

The backwards incantation -- or at least Dean's reaction to it -- didn't strike me weird until I read the discussion here. Also a good call!

I do think that a lot of the issues that are unsettling are going to be resolved, just ... not right away.

I would be okay with them just remembering, in the way that writers do sometimes, but I think it's odd if it's something weird enough that it takes Dean by surprise. After all, hasn't it been Sam's place to be surprised Dean reads, or whatever?

I'm trying to work out if this story is supposed to be an AU past of Dean's, as opposed to one where they try and slip D/C into canon, and only diverge in S5 or whenever, because:

Talk aside, Dean’s only gone what he’d classify as “all the way” with a handful of people this side of hell. Flirting and groping and tongue sucking aside, he’s maybe had -- half a dozen partners? -- since he and Tim Wilson discovered the pleasure of reciprocal hand jobs in the Wilson’s basement during those six months the Winchesters had been in Toledo.

And he's not talking about guys. I read up and down the surrounding sentences to be sure. If men in what the author meant, they didn't set the stage right.

Yeah, the author is implying that Dean has only had half a dozen sex partners since he was a teenager, which even canon shows us is not true. Bad writing.

I can take transplanting him from a hunter to a cop or auto mechanic, but being enthusiastically well-experienced is one of the things you can't remove and still have him read as Dean.