I think this episode was completely homoerotic, at least in terms of purgatory

Okay, I wrote and deleted a lot. Let's see if this stays.

What is the difference between just fighting at someone's side and fighting homoerotically at someone's side? Is there a difference? I believe there is.

What's the difference between fighting at someone's side when Sam's not there, and replacing Sam? Is there a difference? I believe there is.

I believe there is a homoerotic charge to how Dean interacts (but not how he fights alongside) with Cas. NSM Benny. I believe that Nick and very specific Cas moments (early S5 only) were Sam-replacement. Benny's not, Gordon wasn't. I mean, was Garth??? And was there hoyay there too?

I don't know when I became picky about hoyay, but the moment when Benny saved Cas was the moment Benny really became Dean's comrade and not just a guy who was helping him with a shared motive (because he accepts his priority, although he doesn't understand it) but I don't see a hoyay charge there.

I thought Gordon was replacing John as a father figure?

I thought Gordon was replacing John as a father figure?

If anything, yes. Dean seemed to be looking to him for approval, and a bit of camaraderie, but of the sort I bet he wished he could have had with his father, by earning his respect. Not the "in each others pockets" "finish each others sentences" sort of things that I would peg Sam-replacing as.

I don't model all of Dean's relationships as "like Sam" or "like sex" and the IO9 review seemed to be assuming there was just one template, because those two were the same.

Here's a test to see if your feels need to go back to the shop (I typed ship...) for retuning: [link]

I am not watching the same show as IO9, clearly.

Also they need to proof their stories. Apparently when I disagree with someone, I am more likely to bitchily notice they used the wrong name occasionally.

I noticed that! They said Sam somewhere where they meant ... someone else I don't remember now, but not Sam.

They meant Dean. Unless Sam was in Purgatory and homoerotically fighting monsters.

I still feel on Fridays that I should be going home for Show.

The whole Sam back story is intriguing to me. Sam and Amelia apparently moved out of the motel and into a house in 8x01, and as others have pointed out, someone's watching the house.

In the hotel, Sam fixed her sink. "800 limes" blew up her disposal. She drinks. (Perhaps not a lot, but two beer bottles and a glass of cut up limes on the coffee table.) So while Sam was "concerned" and not stalking, I have to wonder why he was studying her Vet school transcripts.

The fact that we're not seeing what Sam did prior to Dog makes me wonder, too. Was Sam wandering around directionless and lost? No angels to help. No Bobby. No clue where Dean went or where to begin looking for him. No canon to suggest that the hunting community knew about Leviathan or that Purgatory even existed, let alone what happens when you're standing near the Big Kahuna when it gets a blood-soaked nun's bone jammed in its neck. Crowley gone and liking that Sam is now utterly alone. Was hitting the dog the slap in the face that snapped Sam out of his fugue?

OOC or not for Sam, I'm well and truly hooked by what's happening for both boys.

I feel like we're seeing both boys with PTSD and different coping mechanisms. Which, excellent! I like that.

So do you want their stories not to show up at all?

Yes. I want to never see their annoying and inevitably twee names and summaries that are filled with spelling errors and manage to, in a few words of description, be more OOC than even the usual crappy story.

Also, I want to set them on fire with my mind, but barring that, I'd settle for never seeing their fucking mental excrement again.

I may, possibly, have issues with some writers.