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.

I don't know if this has been posted (I'm not reading the thread) but I ran across a Amazon Deal for the Kindle version of Supernatural: John Winchester's Journal. I don't know how good this is, but currently it's a $1.99 [link]

For some reason I seem to have read at least the start of that before, judging by the Look Inside feature. I do know Mike is about to sit him down for a talk..

But what I didn't remember was the reference to Dean and T-Ball. Oh, my poor heart.