I was gonna go back and look, but then last night's episode was right there....

I want to hug everyone because I'm not even mad at Amelia right now. This non-hate is coasting entirely on th "tune out and live in their own heads, like maybe the real world is too much for them and they just run and hide"...segue to memory of Daddy Vet trying to piss all over Sam.

Speaking of which, Genevieve is no taller than the Amelia actress, you figure? It's too much thinking about their real lives, just that shot where Sam kissed her in the first memory, he was pretty much bending at the waist, and I can't help but wish taller women for him. Or heels? Apple boxes? Something, poor man. Poor, studly, gorgeous man. How difficult his life must be...

Other things I live--spaghetti and hot dogs was too bad food for Sam, which tips my fanon towards Dean being a decent cook. I love them filling up their shared past, even if it's just for the not-monster of the week. Underage drinking Sam is hysterical. Dean deciding the appropriate test is to hit himself in the head is more than hysterical. Fake blown up geriatrics...this is where I realise it's a pretty demure episode, considering the premise. And I do appreciate them not going OTT. I mean, Dean gets the taglines, but they're not played for laughs inside the show.

How does Cas send them a message? Is he calling again? Can we have texting Cas? PLEASE?

Problem with the excuses I'm making for the memories is that although it's words that cue hallucinations, those words are also repeated in what he's recalling. So...I migh be lying to myself to get through. Still, getting through is good.

But when he says the living in dream world has an end, and you need to wake up...this is good sign, right?

I did think it was weird he said the car was John's, but I guess they had to save the lost brother reveal for the very end.

It wasn't just restrained--it was pretty damned sad for the premise. I think of Cas and his fear of and need for closure, Dean initiating a chick flick talk--my head canon has him not having done that to anyone he didn't proxy parent--like, this isn't a way he deals with someone he doesn't feel he has responsibility for. If he's doing that in a strictly peer to peer situation, there might be an implication he'd share if they asked, and I'm pretty sure he's done a deliberate job of not getting anywhere near that scenario.

Is he taking care of Cas because he was the first to pull at the thread of his divinity, however it unravelled? Is it because he's a million years old, but new to the world, and Dean is a reflex parent? Is it leftovers from Purgatory? I don't know, but whatever it is, I love it.

(If I hadn't shipped them before, and for some reason last week didn't get me...it's just fun to think about--it's nice when an SPN ship isn't all tears. But, you know, there will be time.)

that although it's

It's what?

DON"T LEAVE US HANGING

I edited!

If Cas was rescued from Purgatory by the angels, wanna bet they resurrected Don to get Sam out of the picture and back on the road to hunting?

Or maybe Crowley resurrected Don to ensure Sam was alone again.

Loved the cat scene. And "Best wife ever!"

Still hearting this season. Flawed, yes, but still the writing seems more elevated to me. (Or, at least, far less sloppy.)

I feel they've been too sloppy about Sam's past year. I don't remember having this level of discomfiture at this point in last season.

Comparing then and now I feel now has more emotional potential (though Cas has paid off more than Sam so far, and that's not right) than I was feeling in early S7, and I'm okay with knowing just the beginning of the big bad last year (I'm in that really populous territory of enjoying a corporate threat from another dimension) as well as feeling we're at the start of a quest without a proper big bad (I feel uncomfortable deeming Crowley or Naomi that so far).

We knew pretty early on that the Leviathans were up to something no good that would result in the death of many humans. Right now, Naomi isn't up to anything other than Winchester stalking (which we'd all do given a chance--be honest) and Crowley is in defensive mode. Closing off Hell is an admirable motive, but I don't feel we're positioned for much action now. They were kicking back to hear more about Leviathan much of last season, and I think that bothered people--they should make sure we're not back in the MOTW-while-we-wait this season as well. Although I didn't mind it that much last year, I don't want to see it again.

I just bumped into this on tumblr--the OP deleted it, and the first person who quoted it deleted their reblog. This [link] is as close to it as I could get from my dash:

okay i’m just going to enter the sea of wank for a second but i have literally never seen a fandom so phobic about having more than two characters present.

can you really think of any tv show that has only two characters and is able to survive eight seasons? supporting characters, guest stars, all of these add to the overall narrative and help make it so that the interaction between the two leads isn’t stagnant - moreover, they provide a chance for the protagonists to grow and reveal different sides of themselves - ultimately making them more interesting to watch.

castle and beckett have ryan and esposito

sherlock and john have mrs. hudson and lestrade

buffy had xander and willow and giles and etc etc

why can’t sam and dean have castiel and jody and so on?

having them around doesn’t make it so that the story isn’t about sam and dean-

it makes it so that the story of sam and dean evolves.

The reblogger's addition was an image of "sassy black woman" (read heavyset and wagging her finger) with the words "Y'all motherfuckers need Jesus". Not sure how to interpret...

Know why you need notes on IO9? So you can make sure you don't talk to this guy:

I've hated the Winchester's and their pissy "I'm mad at you and will withhold critical information" shtick since season 3. I think they're a both morons and insanely self-unaware. BUT--I love everything else about the show. Most of all Castiel. So, I've resigned myself to hating the central protagonists and making snide Dean/Sam fiction jokes. But Supernatural keeps rewarding me for staying with it (Garth and Benny are the most recent reinforcements). *sigh* Carry on, my idiot sons...

ever again.

Seriously made me shudder.

Fine, I'm the only one here. So be it.

IO9 does not really have a recap this week, which I find irritating, given they recap TVD and Arrow and everything else, but someone did sit down and retype a whole bunch of the S7 Companion here: [link]

Yay?

Finally got a chance to watch. I liked! I even liked Cas putting (badly) his tv-watching skills to work. I even liked Amelia as a person. And I just went and rewatched the opening of the season premiere and it totally fits that Sam is exiting her life to make room for her presumed-dead husband. (Doesn't explain the creepy watcher as he leaves, though, unless Don is a creepy dude).

Loved Dean starting out dickish but actually pushing Cas to be forthcoming about what he's going through. And I loved that, since Dean was unable to respond to Cas' confession (and that might possibly been a saved-by-the-bell moment) but Sam was inadvertantly able to get through to Cas. I even liked Naomi a little more (not an AT fan--not a hater either, she just doesn't excite me).

And oh, the lighting in the alley outside the bank at the end was gorgeous, more please?

or that Good Omens ripoff kid that I'd fervently hoped we'd never see or hear from again.

I liked that kid. Not totally fitting in this world, but I liked him a bunch.

Who was watching the house (RoboSam?)?

I am thinking "real" Sam watching a dream or nervous breakdown Sam. It's the only thing that explains the annoying filter. Okay, and some of the story. But that filter bugs me.

I did think it was weird he said the car was John's, but I guess they had to save the lost brother reveal for the very end.

It is John's car to me. And also Dean's car over strength of miles logged and the time travel to encourage John to buy it. But for their whole lives, it was John's car. Dean inherited it before John died but it was an heirloom, a hand-me-down. Something Dean owns now that was Dad's. That Impala is fucking complicated.

okay i’m just going to enter the sea of wank for a second but i have literally never seen a fandom so phobic about having more than two characters present.

It's absolutely against this person's statement but I would watch the Sam and Dean show forever. I don't hate that characters are added or that *gasp* wimmens might be included. I tend to like them. But I am in it for the Sam and Dean Dysfunction Show. I'm a twisted person for it, but its factual.